


Wind Through Feathers

by Psynatural



Series: Energetic Planes [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 08, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angel Castiel, Angel Dean Winchester, Angel Wings, Case Fic, Castiel in the Bunker, Castiel/Dean Winchester Fluff, Castiel/Dean Winchester Wing Kink, Castiel/Dean Winchester in the Bunker, Cute Castiel/Dean Winchester, Dean Has A Wing Kink, Dean Loves Pie, Dean Winchester and Feelings, Dean and Food, Dean/Cas Big Bang Challenge, Dean/Cas Big Bang Challenge 2015, First Dates, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hurt Dean Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Awkwardness, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, M/M, POV Dean Winchester, Prank Wars, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Psychic Abilities, Romantic Fluff, Sensation Play, Senses, Team Free Will, Wing Grooming, Wing Kink, Wing Oil, Winged Castiel, Winged Dean Winchester, Wingfic, Wings, angel senses, other stuff I'm not tagging to avoid spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:47:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5096252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psynatural/pseuds/Psynatural
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean discovers that there are a lot more complications to sprouting wings than he could have anticipated.  And of course, being the Winchesters, they can never go too long without stumbling across a case.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Fresh Breeze

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to [fem-deanwinchester](http://fem-deanwinchester.tumblr.com) for creating the lovely art for this story, and thank you to my beta readers [deliciousirony](http://archiveofourown.org/users/deliciousirony) (Tumblr: [delicious-irony](http://delicious-irony.tumblr.com)) & [precious_passenger](http://archiveofourown.org/users/precious_passenger/)! They have all been a pleasure to work with and have made this process even more fun. There are also quite a few special moments and little jokes that wouldn’t be here without their inspiration. I was very excited to get an artist who had experience with wings, and I oohed and awwed each time she sent me the WIPs (and obviously again with the gorgeous final versions). Small versions of the art have been embedded in this fic - please see the [Art Masterpost](http://fem-deanwinchester.tumblr.com/post/132146075870/wind-through-feathers-by-psynatural-art-by) for larger versions.
> 
> This verse will likely receive more installments in the future, so consider this Part 2/?
> 
> Please do NOT repost my stories on other sites (this includes unauthorized translations). On the other hand, link backs are strongly encouraged.
> 
> ❤ ❤ COMMENTS are absolutely adored! ❤ ❤

[ ](http://fem-deanwinchester.tumblr.com/post/132146075870/wind-through-feathers-by-psynatural-art-by)

“No way, never gonna happen!” Dean protested.

“Dean, I’m not going to keep doing laundry every two days just because you won’t cut holes in any more of your shirts,” Sam argued.

“I never asked you to,” Dean snapped.  “Besides, classic rock shirts aren’t cheap and I lose enough of them to hunting as is.”  Dean was already mourning the Black Sabbath shirt that he had caught Sam cutting holes in, although that did give him an excuse to wear it a lot while he was stuck at home.

“Turning your shirts inside out does not mean you get to wear them two days in a row,” Sam insisted.  “Now come on, these are practical . . .”

“Those are girls’ shirts, Sammy!  What’s next?  Chapstick?” Dean protested.  He still couldn’t believe that Sam had come back from his latest shopping trip with a bag full of girls’ shirts from the used store, much less that Sam was actually trying to convince him to wear them.  Dean was NOT the girl in the family.  Although, if Dean were to give Sam any credit – which let’s face it, was not going to happen here – he’d admit that at least the shirts weren’t pink or frilly, but simple and solid colors like black, navy, and forest green.

“If you weren’t so insecure about your masculinity you’d get that chapstick is a practical thing for anyone irregardless of gender,” Sam scowled.

“Only geeks like you would use ‘irregardless’ in an argument,” Dean grumbled, ignoring the jibe about the insecurity he did NOT have.

“The point is that they don’t make open-back shirts for guys!  Besides, it’s not like anyone is going to see you since you can’t leave the Bunker,” Sam argued.

“That’s where you’re wrong – I’ve figured out how I can go outside,” Dean replied with a victorious smirk.  “If you buy me a backpack, we can cut a hole for my wings, and then they’ll be hidden inside the backpack.”  There occasionally were fringe benefits of still having such small wings.

“Right – ‘cause a guy in his 30s running around town in a backpack is not weird at all,” Sam deadpanned.  Leave it to Sam to not appreciate the sheer awesomeness of his idea.

“So we’ll go someplace where it’s normal for guys to wear backpacks, like on the trails of Kanopolis State Park,” Dean suggested.

“You want to go hiking?” Sam questioned with a raised eyebrow.  “And you’ve already picked out a spot?”

“After two weeks of being stuck in this bunker, anyplace with fresh air sounds good.  Besides, Cas loves that nature stuff.  We could pack a lunch, and . . .” Dean replied enthusiastically.

“Wait,” Sam interrupted with a grin.  “Is this a date?”

“No!” Dean squawked.  “It’s not a date!”  He could feel his face turning bright red, which only made Sam’s grin grow wider.

“You want a cute little picnic basket to go with your backpack?” Sam asked.

“Screw you, Sammy!  If you won’t do it for me, do it for Cas.  Angels weren’t meant to be cooped up inside this long.  Poor Cas is going to get cabin fever,” Dean replied.

“Right – because Cas has been the one to put saran wrap over the toilet, put sugar in the salt shaker, and short sheet my bed,” Sam retorted with a very knowing look at Dean, at which time Dean suddenly found urgency in unpacking the groceries that Sam had just brought home. Dean tried not to smirk, thinking of all the other pranks he’d set up that Sam hadn’t even found yet.

“Besides,” Sam continued, “I’ve offered to let Cas come with me on my shopping trips, but he says he doesn’t want to until you’ve learned to cloak your wings so you can join us.”  While Dean appreciated Cas’ consideration, it only made him feel more guilty about being the reason why Cas wasn’t going outside.

“I’m training hard with Cas every day,” Dean grumbled.

“Yeah, I hear you ‘training’.  These walls aren’t that thick,” Sam retorted with an eye roll as he showed Dean the new package of ear plugs he’d just bought.

“Dude!  We haven’t even started . . . ,” Dean began.

“Dean!  I don’t need details!  Whatever you guys wanna do is cool,” Sam jumped in.  Dean rolled his eyes at how squeamish Sam could be, even when there wasn’t much to be squeamish about (yet).

“Awesome – then while you’re out you can buy us a few packs of condoms, a whole case of Astroglide and . . . ,” Dean pretended to casually suggest, but of course Sam caught on.

“Don’t make me change my mind about buying you a backpack,” Sam threatened.

“You will?  Awesome!  Thanks Sammy,” Dean replied with a grin.

“Just don’t invite me along on your little nature picnic,” Sam retorted.

“Not a chance,” Dean agreed.  Not that this was a “date” but he liked the idea of being out in nature, just him and Cas.

Speaking of, Cas chose that moment to walk into the room and examine the new clothes that Sam had bought.

“I like these shirts.  Very practical,” Cas announced with a smile, flexing his wings slightly.  Dean groaned and closed his eyes, rubbing the spot between his eyebrows.

“Don’t worry Dean,” Cas assured.  “The back is low enough that it won’t get in the way even as your wings grow.  And this green will bring out your eyes.”  Dean didn’t even need to see Sam’s face to know that Sam’s expression was halfway in between a gloating smirk and an attempt to hold in ravenous laughter.  A chuckle escaped Sam despite his best efforts.

Sometimes Dean really hated his life.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

On the bright side, at least Sam hadn’t gotten them some dorky little picnic basket.  But on the other hand, Dean wasn’t convinced that what Sam did buy was all that much better.

“Matching backpacks?” Dean sputtered.  He could hardly believe he was seeing the two brightly colored blue and green backpacks in front of him.

“You can’t carry the food in your backpack without crushing your wings, so I got Cas a backpack too,” Sam said in his overly patient voice, while trying to hide a smirk and failing spectacularly.  This definitely was payback for the fake “blue screen of doom” on Sam’s laptop a few days ago.

“Well, yeah, but – did you have to make us look so gay?” Dean protested.  Sam really couldn’t hold back his laughter at that one, which earned a glare from Dean.

“Right – ‘cause I’ve just been imagining you two playing tonsil hockey every spare minute for the past two weeks,” Sam retorted.  “Trust me, with the way you two can’t stop making goo-goo eyes at each other, it’s already plenty obvious even without the backpacks.”  Dean rolled his eyes.  Seriously?  He and Cas did NOT make goo-goo eyes at each other.

“So I’m a bit bi, or pan, or Angel-sexual or whatever,” Dean replied with a huff, “It doesn’t mean that I need to start fitting the stereotypes.”

“Not at all,” Sam quickly agreed.  “But Cas will love the way the green backpack will bring out your eyes!”

Dean threw a book at Sam.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Dean couldn’t believe how awesome it felt to finally get out of the Bunker.  He grinned as he and Cas sped down the highway.

“Poor Baby really missed me,” Dean cooed while petting the steering wheel.  Dean really appreciated how Cas not only didn’t roll his eyes at him like Sam would have done, but actually smiled like he was pleased to see Dean so happy.  Sure, Dean had to adjust to having the bench further back to make room for his wings, but it was still worth it to be out on the open road again.

“I’m glad you can still drive her for a little longer,” Cas replied.  Years of insisting that the Impala was indeed a “her” was finally rubbing off on Cas.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked, feeling a chill from the implications of Cas’ words, disrupting his otherwise  good mood.

“When your wings are bigger, your car won’t have enough space to accommodate them until you learn to make them insubstantial,” Cas continued.  Dean cringed at the thought of not being able to drive his Baby.

“Then I’ll just have to learn quickly.  Good thing I have a great teacher,” Dean replied with a sly smile, meeting Cas’ eyes for a moment.  He tried not to let the look of skepticism on Cas’ face faze him any.  They’d figure it out.  Dean couldn’t help but envy how easily Cas slipped his intangible wings through the Impala’s exterior, coasting on the wind as they drove.  Dean wondered what it’d feel like to have the wind in his feathers like that.  His own wings were now only about a foot long each – not quite long enough to fill the large backpack that Sam had bought for him, but too large to be comfortable inside it.  Dean could feel them constantly twitching inside the backpack, longing to be free and ride the wind like Cas’ wings were doing.  This was the first time he’d tried restricting them and it was bothering him a lot more than he’d expected it to.  He was glad now that he’d chosen a destination only about two hours from the Bunker rather than some of the trails further away that he’d considered.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Dean couldn’t help grinning at how at peace Cas seemed out in nature, and immediately knew that he’d made a good choice for their not-date.  It was a nice early spring morning with perfect temperatures and bright blue skies.  Better yet, they’d set out early enough that the trail wasn’t crowded with other hikers.

“Dean, I don’t sense any other humans nearby – you could try taking your wings out for a while,” Cas suggested.  Dean didn’t need to be told twice.  He sighed a huge sigh of relief as soon as his wings were freed from their backpack prison.  Dean stretched his tiny baby-chick wings and gave them a few tentative flaps to release tension.  They had grown to over a foot long each now, but they were still only covered in tawny down feathers.  Dean’s freckled light brown feathers, like his hair, took on a bit of a golden glow in the sunlight as he fluffed them up in happiness.  His wings started twitching around wildly, like they were trying to work out kinks from being cramped up for so long.

[ ](http://fem-deanwinchester.tumblr.com/post/132146075870/wind-through-feathers-by-psynatural-art-by)

“What?”  Dean asked when he caught a glance of Cas’ bemused expression.  Cas’ sleek dark wings also seemed to glisten in the sunlight, and the blue feather tips looked even more vibrant than usual.  

“Um, your wings didn’t like the backpack very much, and now they are trying to seek out a breeze so they can imitate me . . . ,” Cas began, but he stopped upon seeing Dean’s startled expression.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Wait – did you get all that just from watching my wings right now?” Dean asked.

“Yes.  As your subconscious becomes more integrated with your wings, they become more expressive.  They show your emotions very clearly.  I’m sorry you are not comfortable with this, but this is natural with all angels’ wings.  No, I don’t think you can learn to mask this . . . ,” Cas explained.

“Cas!” Dean interrupted irritably.  “Don’t answer questions my mouth hasn’t asked.  It’s creepy.”  

He couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed by his wings.  This was starting to feel way too much like mind reading for Dean’s taste, and he almost wanted to put the backpack back on, just so his wings would stop blabbing without his permission.  But there was no way that he was going to put up with cramped wings all day if he didn’t have to.

“Of course.  My apologies,” Cas replied, his face going from excited to dejected so fast that it gave Dean whiplash.  Damn – that kicked puppy expression could give Sam a run for his money.  Dean immediately felt bad for chastising Cas just for teaching him new important stuff about his wings.  Better to find out now than the next time they encountered another angel.

“Don’t worry about it Cas,” Dean told him.  “Lead the way – we can find a nice spot for lunch down by the river.”  If Cas saw right through Dean’s not-so-subtle way to keep Cas’ eyes off his wings, he was too polite to say anything.  But first things first – that sad look on Cas’ face had to go.  Dean trailed a teasing line of kisses down the line of Cas’ jaw like he was heading for Cas’ mouth, but at the last second he kissed the tip of his nose instead.  Dean wiggled his eyebrows at Cas to imply a continuation of those ministrations after the hike, and ruffled Cas’ hair to make it look even more like sex-hair than usual.  Cas gave him a look that clearly asked ‘is that really how you plan to end all of our disagreements?’ which was accompanied by a small smile that suggested that he could get on board with that.

Dean was able to put his wings’ betrayal behind him as they hiked.  Even though Dean didn’t consider himself to be a nature lover, he had to admit that his home state had a lot more natural beauty than he’d appreciated before.  

His eyes particularly kept getting drawn to the birds flying about.  He’d never paid that much attention to birds before, but now that he had wings too he found them much more interesting.  He watched how gracefully they soared through the sky, some of them seeming to glide with so little effort, others flapping up a storm to even go short distances.  Dean’s own wings started twitching with kinship and a strange sort of yearning… Dean quickly shook his head and diverted his eyes back towards the ground, the place where humans belonged.  If he was going to be getting any strange feelings of kinship with birds, he wanted it to be something like an ostrich or a penguin – birds that were sensible enough to keep both feet firmly on the ground.

Cas clearly also loved watching the birds soaring high in the sky, but he also was enthralled by another type of flyer that Dean preferred to keep his distance from: bees.  Cas was clearly just as carefree and relaxed around bees (including the stinger ends) now as when he showed up on the Impala one time completely covered in bees.  The bees particularly loved the handful of “flowers with exceptional pollin” that Cas had collected along the way.  Cas looked like he was about to offer the bouquet to Dean, but stopped short when he saw the way that Dean was warily eying the bees buzzing around the flowers.  Cas looked a bit disappointed, but to Dean’s relief he didn’t push him to get acquainted with his little stingered friends.  Cas kept the flowers though, and Dean suspected that Cas would give them to him later after the bees grew tired of them.  It was an incredibly corny thing to do on a not-date, but somehow Dean didn’t mind it coming from Cas.

A slight breeze started as they hiked through the rolling hills just beginning to turn green.  The sensation of the wind ruffling his feathers for the first time made Dean gasp.  He had expected it to be similar to how the wind felt in his hair, but the increased sensitivity of his wings intensified the experience.  It felt completely amazing.  While the individual sensations in different parts of his wings weren’t as intense as when Cas groomed his wings, these sensations were everywhere at once.  It was practically overwhelming.  Dean was suddenly inundated with this strong sense of connectedness unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

Dean wasn’t even aware that he’d stopped and closed his eyes until he sensed Cas watching him with amusement.  He felt himself turning red as he opened his eyes, but Cas was smiling encouragingly at him.

“Think of your wings as a sensory organ,” Cas instructed.  “With time and practice you’ll learn to gather more information about your environment with your wings than with your eyes or ears.”

“Seriously?” Dean gaped, having a hard time focusing on Cas’ words as the breeze picked up and the sensations going through his wings became more intense.  It really did not help that the wind blew a flower petal that got caught on his wings.  When Cas reached over and gently pulled the flower petal off, even more of Dean’s blood was diverted away from his brain.

“Yes, Dean, although I suppose for now it is a bit overwhelming for you, but it will become second nature.  Why do you think that angel wings are so sensitive after all?” Cas replied.  Memories of their mutual wing grooming sessions popped into Dean’s mind, and he felt enthusiastic twitches in both his wings and his pants at the thought.

“We’ll make more time for that too later,” Cas continued with a shy smile, the slight tease in his voice indicating that Dean’s wings had been giving away his thoughts again.  “But for now you should close your eyes again and focus on all the new sensory information you are receiving.  The wind is a form of energy transmitting signals through your wings.  Your mind must learn to decode the signals in your surroundings, but in time you will be able to sense things just as clearly without any wind.  Everything is made of energy, even objects you perceive to be solid, and the vibrations that they give off can be sensed with angel wings.”

It was against every hunter instinct that Dean had to close his eyes while exposed so completely out in the open like this, but he had complete trust in Cas to watch over him.  Dean kept his eyes closed and tried to relax while he just focused on his breathing and let the sensations flow through him.  Dean wasn’t sure how long he stood there like that.  The feeling of the wind didn’t lessen in time, but it eventually started feeling less overwhelming, as if his mind was learning to compensate for the increased stimulus.

Dean was startled out of his meditative state when his stomach grumbled loudly.

“We aren’t far from a spot by the lake that would be ideal for lunch,” Cas announced.  Dean wondered just how far Cas could sense, and how much of it was done with his wings.

The two of them continued down the trail for a little way.  The wind was still slightly distracting to Dean, but it felt good to be moving again.  Cas had been right – there was a great spot for a picnic right next to the water.  Dean couldn’t help grinning as he helped Cas unpack Cas’ backpack with the food (including the individual servings of pie that Sam had actually remembered to buy!).  This not-a-date was going perfectly.


	2. Personal Demons

Dean should’ve known that things had been going too smoothly to last.

They hadn’t even gotten to the pie yet when Cas sensed other humans coming, forcing Dean to stuff his protesting wings back into his backpack.  The new group of over a dozen talkative college students clearly thought that this was a great lunch spot too, because they were quick to settle down right next to Dean and Cas and attempted to make friendly conversation with them despite Dean’s frosty reception of them.  The strangers didn’t seem to get that they were intruding on something (not that this was a date).

So Dean and Cas decided to save their pie for later and continued on the trail.  Perhaps to distract Dean, Cas started enthusiastically playing nature guide.  Cas talked like he’d memorized an entire encyclopedia about Kansas wildlife, flora and fauna.  While Dean couldn’t quite get into flowers the way Cas could, he enjoyed all of the passion his angel showed for nature.

Then Cas suddenly stopped in his tracks.  The angel frowned and squinted his eyes with a concerned head tilt like he was paying attention to something only he was aware of.  Dean held his breath as he waited for Cas to fill him in, dreading whatever kind of bad news it was.

But instead of talking, Cas suddenly left the trail and started tromping through the bush.  Cas had a strange way of moving through tall plants like they weren’t even there.  Dean, on the other hand, struggled to keep up.

“Cas!” Dean called, which made Cas slow down slightly so that Dean had a chance of keeping pace.  After a minute or two they rounded a corner and came across a man-made structure built into the side of a cliff face.  It was covered in neon blue symbols that almost seemed to glow in the sunlight.

“Something tells me bored teenagers aren’t responsible for the art project,” Dean commented with a groan.

“You can see the angel warding?” Cas asked, not sounding particularly surprised anymore.

“Yeah,” Dean confirmed needlessly.  Now that he’d gotten a better look at it, it reminded him of the symbols he’d seen once while astral-projecting.  This was another thing that normal humans couldn’t see that he now could.  Dean was grateful that he never went anywhere unarmed, and quickly whipped out a gun and blade.  He wondered if he could use his knife to scrape away enough of the paint that Cas could go inside with him.  But then, when Dean was suddenly about 15 feet away from the building, he ran into an invisible wall.  Stunned, Dean traced his hand over the invisible wall that was 15 feet around all of the warded area.  Realization dawned on Dean and anger pulsed through his veins.

“Son of a bitch!  I’m human!  HUMAN!” Dean yelled as he started chucking nearby rocks at the angel warding.  To add to his fury, all of the rocks that he threw bounced off the same force field.

“Dean – that is futile.  Any object that was last touched by an angel or an angel’s grace is also repelled by the warding – otherwise it would pose little hindrance to us,” Cas explained.

“But I’m human!” Dean protested again in vain, not wanting to accept that his new wings had made him less human than he realized.

“You’ve become angel enough for the warding to be effective,” Cas explained with a sigh.  “As I’ve mentioned, part of you now exists on the seraphic plane of existence in addition to the physical one, and the angel warding is designed to block everyone who has access to that plane.”

“Did you know this would block me?  Why didn’t you say anything?” Dean demanded.

“I suspected, but I knew you’d charge in regardless of anything I said,” Cas replied cooly.  Dean couldn’t argue with that.  Cas knew him all too well.  Besides, he really shouldn’t be taking his anger out on Cas.  None of this was Cas’ fault.

Dean whipped out his gun and tried firing at the angel warding, only to have the bullet ricochet off of the invisible wall.  What the hell?

“Very thin barriers like fabric or bullet casings are not always enough to prevent an object from picking up our energy since our energy field extends slightly beyond of physical vessels,” Cas explained.  Dean swore.

An idea occurred to Dean, and he set about trying to find some long sticks.  He managed to find two sturdy sticks and tried to use them like a large pair of chopsticks to lift up a small rock.  It was rough going, and he almost dropped the rock a time or two, but then he used the sticks to fling the rock at the building.  Since Dean hadn’t actually touched the rock, it sailed right through the invisible wall and connected with one of the wards.

“Ha!” Dean shouted with a fist pump.  A tiny fleck of paint had been chipped away by the rock.  It wasn’t enough to break that line of paint completely, but with enough rocks…

“That is highly impractical,” Cas commented.  “Perhaps you should call Sam.”  Dean glared at Cas.

“No, I can do this,” Dean stubbornly insisted.

“Dean, it would take a few hundred rocks with precise tosses to break all of those wards, and that is optimistically assuming that there aren’t more wards painted inside,” Cas told him.  Sometimes, Dean really hated it when Cas was right.  Dean couldn’t do this job without the help of someone who was more human than him.  Feeling his wings drooping subconsciously with his mood, Dean reluctantly dug out his cell phone.

“Hey Dean – everything going okay?” Sam greeted him.

“Cas and I found a place covered in angel warding,” Dean told him.  “We need you to come down and check it out… and maybe you should recruit Garth or someone so you have some backup?”

“What about you?” Sam asked with confusion in his voice.

“I… can’t get near it either,” Dean reluctantly admitted.  It sucked to have to say it out loud, almost like that made it more real than it already was.

“Shit,” Sam exclaimed softly after a few agonizing moments of silence.  Dean could just hear the gears in Sam’s brain clicking into place as he put the pieces together.  Dean had a new weakness that made him less of a hunter.  There were new things that Dean couldn’t do himself so he had to inconvenience, and likely endanger, other people because he could no longer do his own damn job.  Dean felt worthless.

Fortunately, Sam didn’t push the issue, but just said that he’d see if Garth was available to come down with him.  Dean hoped it was Garth and not some other hunter who showed up with Sam.  Out of all the hunters the Winchesters were currently in contact with, Garth seemed to be the person most likely to be tolerant of Dean’s new wings.  Too many other hunters out there would probably be quick to add Dean to their kill list, now that he was something partially supernatural.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

It was dark by the time that Sam and Garth showed up.

“Hey Dean!” Garth greeted enthusiastically.  Dean had forgotten that Garth was a hugger, and barely suppressed a yelp when Garth threw his arms around Dean.  Fortunately, Garth’s arms avoided his backpack and the precious cargo it contained.

“Hey Garth,” Dean replied with a weak smile after Garth let go.

“And this must be Castiel,” Garth continued enthusiastically, pulling Cas into a tight bear hug too.  Dean couldn’t help laughing at the look of surprise and confusion on Cas’ face, which slowly turned into a slight smile in Cas’ eyes at the warm reception.

“Congrats to you both in finally getting together.  I’m real happy for you,” Garth told them warmly.  “And Dean – now that you’ve got wings you’ve got to take me flying sometime.”  Dean gaped at Garth.  He didn’t know what to respond to first – Garth seemed completely casual and nonchalant about him getting together with Cas and sprouting wings.  Either one of them would raise alarm bells from any normal hunter, and yet Garth was grinning broadly like his friends sprouted wings and dated across species all the time.  It made Dean’s head spin.

“Uh… I can’t fly,” Dean stuttered, feeling like an idiot.  Way to latch onto the least important part and avoid any of the other issues.

“No worries Dean – I’m sure your new boyfriend would be happy to teach you,” Garth replied.  Dean jolted at the word boyfriend, but swallowed his protest at the word.  He was still getting used to dating a guy, but he supposed that it wasn’t wrong to call Cas his boyfriend.  Somehow though the word felt too simplistic and incomplete to really represent what Cas meant to him.  For now though, Dean didn’t have a better word to suggest so he left it alone.

“So this,” Dean asked while gesturing between him and Cas, “doesn’t faze you at all?”

“Why would it?” Garth asked in confusion.  “Love is beautiful in whatever form it takes, and yours has been a long time coming.  I’ve heard it in your voice whenever you’ve talked about Cas, and Kevin says that your staring contest can get so heated that he wants to tell you guys to get a room, but he doesn’t think you’d even hear him when you’re like that.”

While Garth’s complete sincerity was touching, Dean felt himself turning red.  This was definitely starting to feel way too much like a chick-flick moment.  Did he really stare at Cas as much as Sam (and now Kevin and Garth too) seemed to think?  He could feel Cas staring at him now, and it took a surprising amount of effort not to meet his angel’s gaze.  Instead he shifted uncomfortably and coughed, gesturing in the direction of the warded building.

“So we suspect that this is a demon hunt, since most monsters aren’t this familiar with angel warding, but be ready for anything.  Start by breaking the wards on the outside and we’ll see if Cas and I can go in with you,” Dean told them as Cas led them off the main trail and back towards the warded building.  The warding paint seemed to glow in the dark, but Dean knew that Sam and Garth still wouldn’t be able to see it.

“How do we break the wards?” Garth asked.

“Dean and I can direct you to where the wards are painted.  A line of paint through each of the wards should suffice,” Cas explained.  With that, Sam and Garth dug out cans of spray paint from their bags.  Trying to tell Sam and Garth were to paint from a distance wasn’t as easy as Dean had expected, and took at least a half hour.  After the last ward on the outside of the building was finally broken, everyone looked to Cas expectantly.

“It appears that there are also wards on the inside of the exterior walls as well.  I was unable to sense them before.  Dean and I will not be able to go inside with you, and if those wards are likewise invisible to humans then you will not be able to locate and break them,” Cas reported.  Dean swore.  All that work for nothing – he still couldn’t go inside.  Waiting there was pure torture.  Dean kept checking the time every two minutes, wondering what they would do if Sam and Garth didn’t come back out.

“What is taking so long?” Dean grumbled again.

“I don’t know, as I cannot sense anything inside the wards,” Cas replied unhelpfully.

“Rhetorical question, Cas,” Dean grumbled.  Cas still hadn’t gotten the hang of knowing when humans tended to say placating things based on hope that everything would be alright.

It felt like it had been hours when Sam and Garth finally emerged.

“There were some caves that went deep into the cliff,” Sam explained.  “We came across what looked like the fallout of demon-on-demon violence.  There were a few putrid empty meatsuits left behind and a lot of sulfur.  But we couldn’t figure out what happened.  I took a few photos on my phone that we can analyze back at the bunker.  There was some old writing on the cave walls that I couldn’t understand.  I also collected a few random scraps of things that I can try analyzing too.”

“Demon-on-demon violence – that’s not ominous at all,” Dean deadpanned and sighed.  “So we’re done here?”

“Yeah – we’ve done all we can for now.  I’ll translate the text back at the bunker and we’ll go from there,” Sam replied.  “Thanks for coming Garth – do you want to come back to the bunker with us?”

“Sure, I could use a place to crash tonight, but I’m gonna head out in the morning.  I’m on my way to a werewolf hunt I just heard about,” Garth replied.

“Need any help with that?” Dean asked, eager to feel useful.

“Nah, I’ve got this,” Garth replied.


	3. The Angel’s Whisper

Dean should’ve known that Sam would pounce on him the first time his brother got him on his own.

“Stop beating yourself up, Dean,” Sam insisted.  “We’ve split up on hunts before, and you’ve trusted me to be able to handle things.”

“But I’ve never been physically unable to provide backup if you’d needed it.  I was completely worthless,” Dean argued.

“Do you think Cas was worthless on this hunt?” Sam retorted.

“What?  Of course not!” Dean snapped back angrily before he caught the look on Sam’s face.  Crap – he’d fallen for one of Sam’s traps.  Logically, Dean and Cas had both been in the same boat – both unable to penetrate the angel warding.  But while Dean would never have even conceived of looking down on Cas for being limited in that situation, it didn’t mean he felt any better about having fallen prey to it himself.

“But I’m a hunter – hunters can’t be limited by crap like this,” Dean protested.

“Cas is your hunter-in-training.  Does his vulnerability to angel warding prevent him from being a good hunter?” Sam continued playing devil’s advocate.

“No,” Dean conceded, knowing that currently Cas’ greatest handicap to being a hunter was his understanding of humans – something he was working really hard to improve.  Dean opened his mouth again to comment on how Cas’ passion for helping people combined with his countless years of combat experience and supernatural expertise gave Cas the makings of a great hunter, but Dean stopped himself because he knew that Sam would just turn all of those statements back around on him.  Little brothers could be annoying like that – especially ones who would have made great lawyers.  However, despite Dean not saying any of that, Sam must have seen it on his face because Sam grinned slyly like he’d just won the fight.  Sneaky bastard.  But Dean wasn’t done yet.

“Well, Cas also brings lots of angel strengths to the table.  That’s more for us than the few weaknesses he has,” Dean argued.

“You mean like the ability to see things most humans can’t, like that invisible paint for the warding?” Sam countered, somehow still being able to turn it back around on him.

“Just being able to see stuff can get you in more trouble than it’s worth sometimes without other stuff to back it up.  It’s not like I’ve got super strength now, or can smite demons, or anything,” Dean grumbled.  While he loved his new ability to see and touch Cas’ wings, he also had some old bad memories of seeing things like fairies and hellhounds that had just made him a target.

“Cas thinks he can teach you to fly,” Sam continued.  Just like every other time the topic came up, Dean immediately had the mental image of himself crashing and burning.  He shuddered.

“Not happening!” Dean insisted, wishing that Sam would just shut up about it.

“Fine Dean.  If you hate your new wings so much, does that mean you want me to go back to researching a way to get rid of them?” Sam huffed angrily.

An overwhelming sense of horror from that thought filled Dean.  He violently shuddered, and could feel his wings hugging his back closely as if they were afraid of being cut off.

“Jeez, Dean,” Sam continued in shock at his probably horrific expression.  “You are looking like I just suggested castration.”  Then Sam gaped at Dean when he realized that to Dean both ideas were too terrible to imagine.

Logically, Dean knew that he’d only had his wings for two weeks.  But in that time they’d become so much a part of him that he couldn’t imagine himself without them.  They were just as much a part of him as the parts he’d been born with.  Actually the thought of losing them felt worse than the idea of losing another limb like an arm or a leg.  He didn’t feel like he’d be himself anymore without his wings.  On one hand, it was another shocking revelation that he’d changed how he saw himself so much in such a short period of time.  On the other hand, it was a relief to realize it.  This was who he was now, and he wouldn’t go back even if he could.  Knowing that made all the difference.

“No Sammy – you’re right,” Dean replied.  “We’ll figure this out – how I can adapt – just like we always do.”

 

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Cas was being quiet and withdrawn.  His drooping wings were pulled close to his body like he was trying to make himself smaller – which really doesn’t work too well when you’ve got a pair of giant wings on your back.  Dean was particularly alarmed by how Cas would barely look him in the eye, and how quickly Cas started vacating whatever room Dean happened to be in.  That really stung.  Things had been going so great between them on their not-date!  Then Dean caught Cas pouring over a very familiar set of books and realized what was wrong.  Guilt hit Dean like a sack of bricks, and Dean knew that he had to fix this ASAP.

“Cas, stop,” Dean said, gently pulling the dusty old books Cas was reading away from him.  Cas looked like he was going to protest until he saw the look in Dean’s eyes (and probably whatever his wings were expressing, too).  Dean took a deep breath and did one of the things that he always struggled with – opening up about his feelings.  But Cas was worth it.

“Look Cas, I’m sorry for freaking out so bad,” Dean continued.  “This is going to be more of an adjustment than I realized before.  But I will adjust, Cas, so don’t go researching ways to turn me back.  I don’t want that.”

“I can’t ask you to change your species for me,” Cas replied.

“You didn’t ask.  And for the record, if I could do it all over again, I’d make the same choice.  I don’t regret the wings, Cas.  They’ve kind of grown on me.  Literally,” Dean told him.  The look in Cas’ eyes of hoping-but-not-wanting-to-let-himself-hope was heartbreaking.

“But being human has always been so important to you,” Cas insisted reluctantly.

“Well, it was drilled into my head growing up that everything supernatural was evil.  But then I met you and I realized how wrong that was.  You taught me better than that.  So I may be… a little bit supernatural myself now, but I’m still me.  I’m still the same person.  I can learn how to deal with my new limitations.  Besides, my new wings come with a lot of perks too.  Maybe with your help, I can learn how to be an even better hunter than ever before.  So what d’ya say, Cas – can you teach me some more about these wing senses?”

“I’d like that,” Cas replied with one of the biggest smiles that Dean had seen on him.

 

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“Alright – so how do we do this?  More wing-touching?” Dean asked hopefully.

“Yes, Dean,” Cas replied with a secretive smirk that made Dean feel all kinds of warm and giddy in anticipation.  One of the wing movement training techniques that Cas had been doing with Dean was for Cas to lightly touch one of Dean’s wings and have Dean lean his wing into the touch.  Dean had gotten the hang of that one rather quickly.  Like when Cas walked behind him in previous wing-touching sessions, Dean closed his eyes so that he could focus entirely on the sensations from Cas’ hands.  Only, Dean kept waiting and waiting and nothing happened.

“Come on Cas – touch me already!”  Dean whined impatiently.

“I am touching you Dean – just not the physical part of your wing,” Cas responded patiently (although he sounded slightly smug).

“Wha…?” Dean started to ask.

“Concentrate Dean – feel me touching the layer of energy surrounding your wings,” Cas instructed.  Dean sighed – how the hell was he supposed to concentrate when he could be touching Cas right now?  But Dean tried anyway.  He tried hard for at least 30 seconds, but it felt like a lot longer.

“I still can’t feel anything.  Are you sure you’re really…?” Dean complained.  At that moment Cas let out a damn moan – like one of the kinds he made during intense wing grooming sessions.  The sly bastard!  His teasing was downright torture!  Dean smacked Cas’ hand away with his wing and spun around.  Dean opened his mouth but Cas cut him off before he could say anything.

[ ](http://fem-deanwinchester.tumblr.com/post/132146075870/wind-through-feathers-by-psynatural-art-by)

“Good job Dean,” Cas told him with a smug smile.  Dean’s jaw dropped when he realized what Cas was referring to – somehow Dean had been able to sense Cas’ hand well enough to use his wing to smack it.

“How…?” Dean stuttered.

“You are sensing my touches, at least on a subconscious level.  Now we need that to become part of your conscious awareness,” Cas explained.  “Let’s practice again.”

 

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An hour later, Dean still hadn’t been able to consciously feel Cas touch the energy around his wing.  The only touches that Dean got were when he successfully batted Cas’ hand with his wing.  But whenever Dean tried too hard or overthought things, he missed by a mile.  It went much better when he just reacted purely by instinct and didn’t really think about it at all.  Dean wasn’t sure if Cas’ continued teasing was helping him or hurting him.  Sometimes having too strong of a desire to catch Cas could trip him up too.  He could’ve sworn that Cas also started moving his hand faster after a while.

“Nice work, Dean.  We’ll take a break for dinner and practice again tomorrow,” Cas said, and he finally placed his hand on Dean’s wing.  Dean moaned and his touch-starved wing leaned into the touch.  But, just as quickly, Cas removed his hand to head for the door.  Dean couldn’t help it – he downright whined at the loss.  Cas’ teasing was going to be the death of him.

 

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Dean had dumped Sam’s rabbit food into the stew he made, where it was coated with so much gravy and hot sauce that you could hardly still tell that it was vegetables.  Sam made a bit of a face at this, but wisely didn’t comment.  Just because Sam, now the sole grocery shopper in the family, was forcing Dean to eat more vegetables, this didn’t mean that they still had to taste like vegetables.  Dean was quite proud of all the ways he came up with to avoid eating salad.

“So get this,” Sam announced as they ate.  “The writing on the walls of that cave was some kind of code, and I found an old manuscript that shows how to break it.  The code was commonly used by medieval demon orders in Prague….”

“Fascinating Sam, but I’m more interested in what they are doing in this century,” Dean interrupted before his brother could start a long geeky lecture on medieval demons.

“Someone’s grumpy.  Cas’ lessons not going well?” Sam asked.

“No, and whatever he’s doing is making my wings itch,” Dean grumbled, trying to use the back of his chair to relieve his itch.

“That shouldn’t have made your wings itch, Dean.  You’re just trying to bait me into straightening out your feathers later,” Cas replied with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk.  Well, that’d certainly be a bonus, and Dean smirked too at the thought.

“Well, that too,” Dean admitted, “but my wings really do itch, and I can’t seem to get it to stop.  Sam – did you put itching powder in my wings?”

“No – when I get you back for those pranks it isn’t going to be with something that’s only going to get you more wing time with Cas,” Sam replied.  Dude had a point.

“Let me take a look,” Cas said with a sigh.  Finally Cas was going to touch his wings!  Cas’ touch was much lighter and more clinical than usual, but it was still a welcome relief.

“Oh I see – you’re growing new feathers,” Cas exclaimed after a moment.

“Real feathers?” Dean prompted eagerly.

“Your down feathers are real feathers, Dean,” Cas told him again with exasperation.  “But yes – these might be your first set of flight feathers.”

“Awesome!” Dean exclaimed with a fist pump into the air.

“Does this mean that Dean’s wings have stopped growing?” Sam asked, and Dean’s stomach plummeted at the thought.  He didn’t want to be stuck with little wings – he wanted big warrior wings like Cas.

“Not necessarily.  Dean’s wings will probably still continue to grow.  If you are familiar with the terms humans use to describe birds, this would most likely be the angelic equivalent of one of Dean’s ‘subadult’ plumages, rather than the ‘definitive’ plumage he will grow after his wings are full sized.  This just means that once these feathers grow in, Dean’s wings will be mature enough for him to learn a fuller range of wing skills,” Cas replied.

“Like making them insubstantial?” Dean asked.

“Yes Dean,” Cas confirmed.  “But in order to do so, you need to let your feathers grow in correctly.  Rubbing against chairs can damage them.”  Dean then felt the familiar warmth of Cas’ Grace healing him.  But usually the feeling only lasted a second, even with injuries like broken bones.  Only this time, the feeling was lingering.  Dean also felt his wings go unnaturally still, as if guided by instinct to make it easier for Cas to heal him.

“Wings and other angelic anatomy aren’t as easy to heal as human bodies,” Cas answered his unspoken question.  “It takes some time for my Grace to heal and straighten your still-forming feather shafts.”

“Have they breached Dean’s skin yet?” Sam asked, looking at Dean’s wings so closely that Dean could feel Sam’s breath on his feathers.

“No – but you can feel them forming under the skin.  So long as you are gentle it won’t hurt Dean,” Cas replied.  Dean caught a glance at Sam’s ‘Puppy-Dog Face #37’ – which signified that Sam really wanted to touch Dean’s wings but was holding back because he was afraid that Dean would get upset if he asked.  Dean sighed.  He hadn’t offered to let Sam touch his wings yet, even though Cas had explained that it was perfectly normal for angelic siblings who were close to touch each others’ wings, and that said touch would feel totally different than the touch of a lover.  Sam must have figured out that Dean was considering letting him touch, because Sam’s expression shifted into ‘Puppy-Dog Face #42’ – which signified that Sam was hoping that he had successfully wrapped Dean around his little finger.  Little brothers could be so annoying sometimes.

“Alright, alright,” Dean conceded, trying not to smirk at how excited his brother looked.  Sam gasped in awe as he touched Dean’s wing.  Dean could have sworn that Sam mouthed the words “so soft” but Sam at least was smart enough not to say the words aloud or Dean might have had to smack him.  The feeling of Sam’s hands on Dean’s wings felt oddly calming and comforting.  It was kind of relaxing actually.  Between both Sam and Cas’ hands on his wings, as well as Cas’ Grace flowing through him, Dean could just feel the tension melt out of his body.

“I feel the shafts forming under the skin,” Sam said, his voice filled with geeky wonder.

“Yeah okay, but this isn’t a damn petting zoo, so…,” Dean began, feeling the need to keep this moment from getting too touchy-feely (literally).

“Shit!” Sam suddenly exclaimed.  “Did I hurt you?”

“What?  No…,” Dean started to ask, startled as to why Sam had suddenly jumped a few feet away from him.  Then he noticed a few of his feathers floating to the ground.

“It’s alright Sam – those were already loose,” Cas explained.  “Dean is going through a partial molt to make room for the new feathers.  He lost some feathers while rubbing on the chair as well.”

“I’m fine Sam – didn’t hurt at all,” Dean truthfully reassured him.  The spot where the feathers had come out actually felt a little bit better, or at least less itchy.

“Actually, you can help Dean out by removing any of the feathers that are loose,” Cas suggested, and Sam cautiously approached Dean again.  “If we remove Dean’s loose feathers a few times a day, the molting process should be more comfortable for him.”

Dean didn’t want to admit it, but the feeling of Cas and Sam going through his wings and removing all of his loose feathers felt pretty awesome.  Even without looking, Dean could easily tell if each touch was Sam or Cas because they both felt so completely different.  Cas was a lot better behaved than during all the teasing earlier, and didn’t do anything that would have made Sam uncomfortable to be around them.  Instead, all the gentle touches were just lulling Dean into a more and more relaxed state, and he caught himself starting to nod off a few times.  Dean was aware of Cas and Sam talking quietly amongst themselves, but he wasn’t really listening – something about wing oil and how that wasn’t something Cas planned to teach Sam.

The next thing Dean knew, there was a flutter of feathers and Dean was laying in his own bed.  Cas was curled up next to him, and Cas draped his wings over Dean as the world’s best blanket.  Dean breathed in the sweet smell of Cas’ feathers and then surrendered to sleep.


	4. Trail of Feathers

Dean hadn’t realized just how many feathers he had until he started losing so many of them.  His jaw dropped when he realized that Sam and Cas had been collecting his feathers into a surprisingly large pile.

“Cas said to collect them,” Sam explained when Dean asked about it.  “He didn’t really explain why.  Maybe it’s for the magical properties of angel feathers in spell work, or maybe he just wants to make the world’s softest pillow….”  Dean rolled his eyes at Sam, but he secretly liked the idea of giving Cas a pillow made from his feathers that smelled like him.

“But would my feathers really work for spells?” Dean asked skeptically.  He was starting to feel more and more caught in between – too angel to be human, and too human to do most angel things.  But Sam just shrugged, not having answers any more than Dean did.

Dean was trying to be good and not scratch at his itching wings, but they were driving him nuts.  Despite his high tolerance for pain, the itching got under his skin in a different way.  Dean was getting more flexible, so he could reach and pull out most loose feathers by himself, but he (obviously) preferred to coerce Cas into doing it for him.

During the “fledging” (feather growing process), Dean was finding himself both eating and sleeping a lot more.  Cas explained that the process of growing feathers consumed a lot of energy, which explained why Dean’s body was demanding more food and sleep.  Sam used this as an excuse to encourage Dean to eat even more healthy food, claiming that “Superfoods” would help give Dean an extra boost.  While Dean didn’t mind the excuse to eat blueberry pie, he drew the line as soon as Sam started talking about some sort of algae.  So instead, Dean snuck out of the bunker while wearing his backpack and raided the nearest convenience store, buying all the beef jerky that they had in stock.  Since Sam had been too squeamish to buy all of his requests before, Dean made sure to stock up on condoms, Astroglide, and a few new toys while he was out.  As his wings grew, Dean wasn’t sure how easy it would be to continue to hide them, so he wanted to make sure he had a good stash on hand for when Cas was ready to take things to the next level.

Meanwhile, lessons with Cas continued.  Dean was very skilled at not overthinking things and just letting his instincts guide him to know where Cas’ hand was.  

But that only led Cas to make the lessons harder.  Cas stopped making the game about Dean moving his wings to touch Cas’ hand.  Instead, he asked Dean to use words to explain where Cas’ hand was.  This turned out to be a lot harder than Dean anticipated.  Somewhere between his instincts and his mouth, Dean got repeatedly tripped up by over-thinking things.

“How many fingers, Dean?” Cas asked.  Dean sighed as he tried to consciously sense where Cas’ hand was, including those wonderful fingers that he wanted so badly to be in his feathers and not just hovering above them.  His hunter instincts were screaming at him to use his other senses to fill in the gaps in his knowledge.  Before he even realized what he was doing, his eyes had sought out a reflection on a glass door of a cabinet.  But Cas must have caught on to him somehow, because the next second all of the lights went out.

“Hey!” Dean protested at the sudden complete darkness.

“Perhaps,” Cas said coyly, as if he hadn’t just caught Dean unintentionally cheating, “the absence of your normal sensory stimuli will prompt your new senses to overcompensate?”  Cas leaned in close and whispered these words right up against Dean’s neck, causing Dean to shiver and fluff up his feathers.  Cas hummed his approval at Dean’s reaction.  Sneaky bastard.  Dean so needed to get him back for this later.

Dean’s senses did start overcompensating for his lack of vision – just not the ones that Cas had been hoping for.  His ears honed in on the tiny sounds that told him exactly where Cas was – like the tiniest crinkle of fabric as Cas moved.  It wasn’t that Dean was really trying to use his ears for this – but years’ worth of hunter’s training was too much to ignore.

Cas sighed and popped out of the room for a brief moment.  When he returned Dean felt Cas gently slide earplugs into his ears.

Silence and darkness.  Dean had to take a few deep breaths to remind himself that he was safe with Cas in the Bunker.  Dean’s remaining senses went into overdrive, but he still wasn’t getting any kind of mental image of where Cas was.  He could feel the slight air displacement as Cas moved, and he had his instincts.  Between them, his accuracy rate wasn’t half bad.  It may not have been what Cas was looking for, but it still made for good practice – with the reward of getting to briefly touch Cas with his wings.

But small brief touches couldn’t sustain Dean for long – he wanted more.  There was a spot about halfway along the arch of Dean’s wings – where his alula feathers would someday grow – where he had a small flap of skin and muscle.  They hadn’t done much training with his alula flap yet, but Dean had discovered that he could get a bit of a grip on some things with it.  Time to put that to good use.

Dean could just imagine the look of surprise on Cas’ face when Dean grabbed one of Cas’ hands with his alula flap.  Dean then spun into Cas’ arms so that Cas was now essentially hugging Dean.  There was a deep rumble from Cas’ voice, but Dean couldn’t make out the words with the earplugs.  He decided to shut Cas up by distracting him.  For some reason, Cas always went crazy from neck kisses, and Dean went right in for the kill.  

Yep, those were definitely muffled moans that Dean was hearing.  Dean smirked as he continued covering Cas’ neck with little kisses and nuzzles.  Cas was completely lost now, all thoughts of the training session completely forgotten about.  But Dean didn’t just want the muffled version of this, so he freed up one of his hands to pull out the earplugs.  Sure enough, Cas was moaning up a storm, and Dean ate it right up.

“Dean!  Dean!” Cas kept moaning.  Dean decided it was time to move the party to their mouths.  He kissed his way up Cas’ neck and over to his lips, then proceeded to lick Cas’ mouth open.  Cas reacted by practically devouring his mouth.  Yep, Dean definitely knew how to work up his angel.  Now Dean was moaning just as much as Cas.

After all – when you stick Dean and Cas in a dark room together, and give Sam instructions to leave them alone for a few hours for “training” – what else did you think would happen?

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Dean instantly knew that Sam was home, not just from the sounds of doors slamming, but from the delicious smell that was wafting through the bunker.  Mouth watering, Dean was racing through the halls of the bunker in a split second.  Sure enough – in addition to a few grocery bags, Sam was also carrying a pie.

“Awesome!  Thanks Sa-“ Dean started to say as he made a beeline for the pie, only to slam head first into an invisible wall.  

Sam burst out laughing at Dean’s confusion and rising anger.  When he caught his breath, Sam held up a piece of paper with an angel warding sigil on it.  The string of obscenities that came out of Dean’s mouth in response would have made even pirates turn pale.

“Oh I see – this is because Dean made your laptop show that blue screen that you didn’t like,” Cas realized.  Dean hadn’t even heard Cas come in behind him, but now he eagerly turned to Cas in hopes that he could get some support.  After all, pie depended on it.

“This is way below the belt, Sam – tell him, Cas!” Dean snapped.  Sam was cutting himself a slice of what smelled like a very high-quality pecan pie, all the while making a big show of licking his lips in anticipation.

“It does seem a bit cruel, considering Dean’s extreme obsession with pie,” Cas commented with a frown.

“Dude – you didn’t honestly take this seriously, did you?” Sam replied with an eye roll as he tore the paper with the warding sigil in two, and Dean actually felt the effects of the ward dissipating.  “Enjoy your pie – but no more messing with my laptop.”  Sam handed Dean the slice of pie that he had cut, then started unpacking the rest of the groceries.

“This isn’t over!” Dean warned Sam, and then Dean moaned as the sweet taste of pecan pie caressed his tongue.

“Dude – I bought you pie!  Let’s call a truce in the prank war,” Sam replied.

“You warded pie.  Cas and I are going to get you back for that,” Dean insisted.  Clearly Sam was not comprehending the severity of his offence.

“Cas?” Sam questioned.

“You warded against him too,” Dean replied.

“Er, I don’t require sustenance…,” Cas tried to remind them, looking a little apprehensive about getting caught in between the brothers and dragged into their prank war.

“Pie is not just mere sustenance, Cas,” Dean insisted.  “Come over and have a piece and you’ll see.  We’ll plot our revenge later.”  At least Sam knew how to select a good pie, so some of Dean’s lessons must have stuck.  Dean would give Sam credit where credit was due.

 

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“So get this,” Sam announced after geeking out all afternoon on research.  “I think the demons in that cave were experimenting on angel feathers.  It looks like they’ve been trying to figure out angel weaknesses for hundreds of years.  Apparently they tried to infiltrate a group of Prague psychics that were studying angels hundreds of years ago.  While they weren’t successful at getting inside the psychic order, since the psychics caught on to them pretty quickly, they did get away with a little information that was inside the head of the one new initiate that they possessed.  The demons have been trying to build on that ever since.”

“I didn’t think psychics and angels mixed,” Dean commented, but he internally cursed himself when he saw how the reminder of what happened to Pamela made Cas flinch.  But Cas recovered in a blink of an eye.

“Certain special people, certain bloodlines…,” Cas reminded them.

“…can see angels even without drinking untested magical potions, yeah Cas, we remember,” Dean grumbled.  “So how much info do the demons have?”

“Well, there wasn’t enough left behind to piece together the details about what they knew.  But here’s the thing – what we saw in the cave was the aftermath of demon-on-demon violence.  So now some new group of demons is either hunting for the information, or just acquired it,” Sam replied.

“Awesome,” Dean muttered.  Just what they needed.

“How do you know that they are studying angel feathers specifically?” Cas asked.

“Because I found an angel feather they left behind.  I didn’t realize it was an angel feather at first or I would have said something sooner.  I thought it was some sort of a bird feather . . .,” Sam explained.  Cas narrowed his eyes at this, possibly feeling insulted that angel feathers could so easily be mistaken for bird feathers.  Dean was no expert on bird feathers, but he was a little more sympathetic to Sam since Sam couldn’t see the angelic energy that surrounded angel feathers.

“Show me the feather,” Cas commanded.  Sam quickly scurried to comply.  The feather was mostly a light bronze, although it was hard to tell because it was partially covered with some sort of dried on goop.  There was a partial boot print on it, like it had been dropped and stepped on during the demon flight.  Even the parts of the feather that were relatively clean were rather frayed and worn looking.

“It’s not in great shape – I think they were running some tests on it . . . ,” Sam started to comment, but stopped when he noticed the look on Cas’ face.

“It’s Balthazar’s,” Cas announced, looking stricken with pain and guilt over his lost friend.  Dean cringed, remembering all too well the night in Purgatory when Cas had broken down and confessed his regret over how Balthazar had really died.  Dean had already suspected the truth, and was all ready with his counter argument when Cas tried to use that as an excuse as to why Dean shouldn’t try to save Cas from Purgatory.  At that moment Cas hadn’t believed himself to be worth saving after what he’d done, especially since saving Cas had been a risk for both Dean and Benny.  But Dean had refused to give up on Cas, no matter what he’d done.  Cas was mentally in a much better place now, but Dean was still worried what kinds of emotions Balthazar’s feather might shake loose.  Dean wished that the past would just stay buried for once.

“Er, I guess Balthazar must have encountered some demons during the years he was on Earth,” Sam tried to break the awkward silence.  It seemed to help snap Cas back to himself.  

Cas took the feather from Sam and examined it closely.  Then Cas spoke a few words of Enochian that sounded like some sort of spell.  Dean felt a very brief pulse of energy vibrate through his wings.  Then Dean jumped because for a split second, he could have sworn that he saw a ghostly image of Balthazar with wings right in front of him.  But in less time than it took to blink it was gone.

“What the hell was that?” Dean asked, but Cas didn’t even seem to hear him.  Instead, Cas was wide eyed with shock.  “Cas – hey!  You okay?  What the hell happened?  Cas!”

“I’m fine,” Cas insisted unconvincingly.  “It was just an information spell.  I’m not surprised you felt it too.”

“Feel what?” Sam asked, glancing back and forth between Dean and Cas, while looking even more confused than Dean felt.  Cas wasn’t exactly being forthcoming, so Dean took pity on his wingless brother.

“I don’t know, there was some sort of weird energy pulse, and for a split second I thought I saw . . . ,” Dean tried to explain.

“It was like Balthazar was standing right next to you,” Cas supplied, still looking like he’d seen a ghost – which, to be fair, he kind of had.  Dean felt (slightly) less crazy upon hearing that Cas had seen the same thing.  “This spell indicates how long ago an angel lost a feather, and the perceived physical distance correlates to the time difference.”

“So, with angel perspectives on time, this would mean what?  A few years ago?  A few decades ago?” Sam asked.  Leave it Sam to still be a nerd even at times like this.

“A few months ago,” Cas whispered.  “Balthazar is alive.”

Dean and Sam both gaped at Cas in disbelief.  Sam was looking at Cas with full-on puppy dog eyes of pity, clearly worrying both about what if Cas was right, and what if Cas was losing it.

“Cas, . . .,” Dean began.

“I know what I did!” Cas snapped, cutting Dean off.  “I watched . . . I felt him die by my own hand.  It’s one of the biggest regrets of my life.  But somehow, I don’t know how – Balthazar is alive again.”

“Then let’s go find him,” Sam suggested.  “Will the feather work in a locator spell.”

“It’s in bad shape, but with the right spell it might still be possible to locate Balthazar’s general vicinity,” Cas mused.  “But he won’t want to see me.”  Cas trembled slightly at those words, his voice wavering.  He looked so lost and alone that it was painful to look at.  Dean sighed and wrapped an arm around Cas, guiding Cas to lay his head on Dean’s shoulder.  It wasn’t much, but Dean tried to do what he could to offer Cas at least some comfort.

“Look – we’ve all died a few times.  At some point you’ve got to just bury the past and move on with your life.  Gabriel killed me a few dozen times, but I got over it when he eventually came through for us in the end,” Dean began, frowning at Sam’s wince.  Sam never admitted to just how many Tuesdays Gabriel put him through, but from the way Sam was avoiding Dean’s eyes now it was like Sam had under-exaggerated the number . . . . but Dean couldn’t worry about that now.  Cas needed him.  “Anyway, my point is that you and Balthazar go way back.  If he’s alive again then maybe you can come back from this.”

Dean looked deep into Cas’ eyes with a silent plea for Cas to believe.  After all, Dean had forgiven Cas for all the shit that had gone down during that time.  Surely Balthazar could forgive Cas too?  Family meant forgiving people when they screwed up, and Cas and Balthazar were family.  Dean wanted nothing more than to wipe all the pain and guilt from Cas’ face so that his twinkling sapphires would never be darkened by those painful emotions again.  A small glimmer of hope appeared in Cas’ return gaze.  It wasn’t much, but Dean would take what he could get.  They’d find a way to fix this.

“Er,” Sam interjected, coughing uncomfortably.  “If the demons had one of Balthazar’s feathers – is it possible that they have Balthazar too?”  Dean cursed and a new look of horror covered Cas’ face.


	5. Pins and Needles

The fact that the locator spell worked was apparently further proof that Balthazar was still alive, since apparently it only worked by locating the grace of a living angel.  Unfortunately, the locator spell wasn’t particularly precise – it gave them a 20 mile radius to search in southwest South Dakota.  They took a few extra minutes to try summoning Balthazar, just in case he had escaped the demons but was hiding out somewhere in the badlands.  No such luck – summoning spells couldn’t work on angels trapped in warded locations.  Time for a rescue mission.

“Dean, I know it sucks to travel that way, but we’d save a lot of time if Cas could just fly us up there,” Sam suggested.

“We can’t,” Cas replied.  “Fledging angels risk damaging their wings if they try to fly prematurely.  Pin feathers are vulnerable to not being able to control the delicate balance between the part of Dean on the physical plane and the part of him on the seraphic plane.  Pulling Dean too far one way or the other could be disastrous.  We’ll have to use human transportation.”  Dean scowled.  Not that he minded not flying – he was thrilled about keeping his feet on the ground – but he hated being the reason why Cas couldn’t go to his friend’s aid faster.  Cas didn’t act like he resented Dean at all for it – he didn’t even seem to pick up on Dean’s guilt on the subject.  Dean sighed and tried to refocus on how nice it would be to drive his baby.  Sure, it would mean 8 hours of sitting in an awkward and uncomfortable position with his wings cramped, but at least he’d be on the open road.

“Wait – when we fly, don’t you pull us onto the seraphic plane?” Sam asked.

“Vessels are merely shrouded on the seraphic plane – they don’t lose their physical form,” Cas explained.

They packed quickly like they’d been trained to do all of their lives, and were on the road in 10 minutes.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Of course things couldn’t be that simple.  Dean’s wings chose now of all times to erupt in dozens of little tiny porcupine-like needles.  His new feathers were finally starting to emerge.  Dean probably would have freaked out over his new array of silver spikes if he hadn’t been forewarned that this was how his feathers would first emerge.  Sam had insisted on showing Dean dozens of photos of pet birds fledging so Dean would know what to expect.  All of the new feathers grew in while encased in a protective silver coating that would later break away.  While the needles poking through his skin didn’t hurt, Dean discovered the hard way that they caught easily on everything.

“Son of a bitch!” Dean exclaimed when the needles caught on the inside of the backpack when he tried to put it on.  Cas spotted him struggling to carefully unhook the needles without hurting himself, and rushed over to help him.  It took a few minutes to extract Dean’s wings from the backpack, and even the slightest pull on his growing feathers made Dean grind his teeth to avoid crying out in pain.  Damn the wings were sensitive, possibly even more sensitive than before.  It’d be impossible to wear his backpack again until the feathers finished growing in, which could take a while.  In the meantime, Dean would have to do this hunt while staying out of the sight of humans.  Perfect.

Sam took the first shift driving, since it was still daylight, while Dean laid down out of sight in the backseat.  Every single bump on the road sent tingly vibrations through Dean’s wings.  At first Dean tried to think of it as a novelty – maybe if he just closed his eyes and relaxed he could pretend that it was angel-style magic fingers.  But these vibrations just didn’t give him the same kind of pleasure as Cas touching his wings did.  This just felt like sensory overload since his new “pin feathers” seemed to amplify vibrations much more than his down feathers did.  Dean felt an onset of a headache coming on, probably from his brain trying to figure out how to interpret these new sensations.

How the hell was he supposed to do this for eight hours?  Dean felt like he was going crazy.  He needed a distraction… and the perfect distraction was right in front of him.  Cas was sitting in the passenger seat, and Cas’ wings went right through the seat and right into Dean’s reach.  Dean grinned as he started tenderly stroking Cas’ wings.

Cas initially froze.  He gave Dean a look in the rear view mirror that clearly said, “Dean – this is not the appropriate time or place for this,” and nervously glanced towards the still-oblivious Sam.  But Dean knew just how to make Cas completely forget that Sam was even there.  Dean worked his fingers through the feathers to stroke the skin around the base of the quills.  Cas quickly fluffed up his feathers in happiness.  Dean took this as a green light to explore all of Cas’ wings with his fingers – slowly, inch by inch.  Normally Cas would be moaning up a storm by now.  The music on the car stereo skipped a few times though, which showed that Cas was losing control in other areas.  But unfortunately, the music skipping was enough to get Sam on alert for any potential problems.

“Cas?  What’s wrong?” Sam asked, noticing Cas biting his lip and a little bit of sweat on Cas’ brow.  Angels usually didn’t sweat – only on special occasions like when Dean had taken Cas to the brothel.

“I’m fine,” Cas insisted, his voice a full octave lower than usual, and boy did that voice do things to Dean.  Dean felt his whole body shiver, and some of that shiver must have passed on to Cas’ wings where Dean was touching them, because Cas chose that moment to let out a low moan.  Sam’s eyes practically popped out of his head when he realized what they were doing.

“Seriously guys?  I’m right here!” Sam shrieked, his voice two whole octaves higher than normal, making him sound even more like the big girl he really was.

“Aw – lighten up Sammy!  You’re such a prude,” Dean replied with a laugh.  Cas gave Dean a light playful whap with his wing.

“My apologies – that was inappropriate,” Cas told Sam, and Dean could see his bright red blush in the mirror.  But Sam didn’t look the least bit placated.

“Come on Sammy – you’ve seen worse PDA at the average mall,” Dean said as he started stroking Cas’ wing again.  However Sam was having none of it.  Sam pulled the car over to the side of the road, then spun around and glared at Dean.

“Look – we’re not going anywhere until everyone keeps their hands and wings to themselves,” Sam proclaimed.  Cas pulled his wings away, lifting them out of Dean’s reach.  Dean sighed.

“Spoil sport,” Dean mumbled, frustrated at getting wing-blocked by his little brother.  Sam started the Impala again and pulled back onto the road.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Dean ended up sleeping away most of the car ride, but he fidgeted like crazy for the part he was awake for.  Dean thought he’d lose his mind before it was finally dark enough for him to move into the driver’s seat.  Because of his wings, he had to move the bench back as far as it went and just perch on the edge of the seat.  Sam was perfectly happy with this, as it allowed him to stretch out his abnormally long legs.  On the other hand, Dean felt very uncomfortable and awkward doing what was once one of the most relaxing and normal things in the world for him.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

After they finally arrived in Hot Springs, South Dakota, Cas took a short solo flight around the area to scout, after promising not to investigate without backup.  Even though Cas wouldn’t be able to sense Balthazar while he was in a warded area, he would at least be able to sense angel warding if he got close enough.  Well, that was the theory anyway.  In reality, Cas came back frustrated and confused because he’d searched the entire area and found no trace of angel warding.

They checked into a motel, taking advantage of the darkness to keep Dean from being seen when they snuck into the room.  Dean scarfed down a large bag of take-out while Sam and Cas did the locator spell again to see if Balthazar had been moved.  No such luck on things being that simple – the locator spell still said that Balthazar was there, but Cas couldn’t find any trace of angel warding anywhere.

“Hey Cas – would you be able to detect the angel warding if it was underground?” Dean asked between bites.

“If the warding was underground, then I’d also have to be underground to detect it.  Why?” Cas replied.  In response, Dean held up a brochure that had been on the table – one of the local attractions was the Cave of the Winds.

“Can you scout the cave system?” Sam asked.

“With all of the twists in a cave labyrinth system, I might not be able to sense the warding until I was very close to it – possibly not until I could see it – in which case they might be able to sense me or see me too,” Cas replied.

“Forget it Cas – you’re not going alone.  We can’t risk losing you too,” Dean reminded Cas pleadingly.  Dean didn’t even want to think about the possibility of Cas being trapped in some cave, being tortured by demons, with Dean having no idea which tunnel to go through to find him.

“I’ve faced demons before, Dean,” Cas retorted with a scowl.

“So had Balthazar,” Dean replied.  He stared Cas down until Cas looked away.

“Alright – we can go together in the morning,” Cas conceded reluctantly.

“In the morning?  Why not now?  It’d be easier to break in without so many people around.  Sam and I took turns sleeping in the car, so we’re good to go,” Dean replied.

“No you’re not,” Cas called his bluff.  “You’re exhausted from fledging.  You can’t push through on so little sleep when the feathers have consumed so much of your energy.  Get some sleep Dean.”  Now it was Cas’ turn to stare Dean down and win.  Dean was at less than 100% and they all knew it.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Dean awoke to Cas preening his feathers.  His first thought was to just pretend to keep sleeping so that he could bask in the feeling a bit longer.  Unfortunately, he had a tendency to regain alertness quickly to access where he was and what was going on – too many years of ingrained hunter instincts – and that reminded Dean that they had an important job to do.  With a sigh he reluctantly opened his eyes.  There was a soft light coming through the curtains, so it was probably about dawn.  Sam was doing stuff on his laptop, and Cas was sitting on the bed next to him.

“The silver sheaths are starting to break away.  Your new feathers are very lovely,” Cas told him softly.  Now THAT was such good news that Dean was willing to skip the whole ‘you don’t call guys ‘lovely’’ lecture.  He practically bounded out of bed to the mirror, a wide grin taking over his face as he caught a glimpse of his wings.

Feathers.  Dean had real feathers on his wings.  The silver sheaths that had been covering the feathers while they had been growing hadn’t completely broken away yet, but Dean suspected that Cas had been helping them along.  The new feathers underneath were uncurling but still needed some grooming to zip the veins and get the tiny barbicels to hook together to create a solid, smooth surface.  Dean’s feathers were mostly the same color as his hair, with shimmery green tips.  Well, that is, all of his feathers but one.  In the same spot as Cas had one stray feather that had Dean’s coloring, Dean also had one rogue feather that matched Cas – black with a blue tip.  Dean still wasn’t sure how he felt about those rebel feathers, but he chose not to focus on it now.

He had badass wings.  It was hard to believe just how different they looked with new plumage.  They looked awesome.  Dean made a few experimental flaps.  His wings made more sound now too, and felt different as he moved them.  Different movements either encountered a lot more air resistance, or practically none at all.  But his wings also felt a lot heavier than they had a few days ago.  As lightweight as individual feathers were, they added up quickly.  Dean was grateful for all of Cas’ help in strengthening his wings.

“Awesome – now this is more like it.  They might still be a bit small, but they are finally starting to look like warrior wings,” Dean commented.  No more baby chick wings, and he wouldn’t look like a porcupine again until the next molt.

“Yeah Dean, you look pretty good,” Sam replied, with more fondness portrayed through his eyes than his words.  “Just in time for battle too.”

“Right,” Dean replied, trying to get his head back into the mission.  “So how early do the caves open?  Can we get there before there are too many people?”  The brief silence that followed was not reassuring.

“Er, Dean – it’s sunset, not sunrise – you slept all day,” Sam told him.

“What the hell?  Why didn’t you wake me?” Dean demanded.  He was a bit in shock – he never slept that much, especially not in the middle of a case.  Who knew what Balthazar had been going through while Dean had been sleeping!

“Relax Dean – we’ve been gathering intel while you slept.  We’ve got some maps of the cave system, and get this – a significant portion of the cave has been removed from modern maps.  There are a few vague drawings of that part of the cave from a hundred years ago, but most of it was unexplored – and someone wants it to stay that way,” Sam explained.

“The entrance to that part was blocked off by a rock slide – I’ll have to fly us in,” Cas added.

“Hold up – I thought I couldn’t be flown while I was fledging,” Dean quickly interjected, dreading the answer he suspected was coming.

“You are past the vulnerable stage.  While you haven’t had enough training to fly yourself, you should be safe as my passenger,” Cas informed him.

“Awesome,” Dean muttered.  Even though Cas’ flight was instantaneous for humans, Dean always felt a bit sick afterwards.  Sam didn’t seem to suffer quite so much from it.

“Before we leave, we must first finish grooming your wings,” Cas continued.  Dean blinked at him in surprise.

“Don’t get me wrong Cas – I’m freakin’ thrilled about the new feathers and all, but they’re probably just going to get messed up in the cave so we can groom when we get back…,” Dean started to offer, not wanting to be another reason for a delay.

“No – feathers are not just about looks Dean, they are about function.  A warrior should never go into battle with unkempt wings,” Cas insisted with a forcefulness that took Dean by surprise.

“Unkempt?” Dean repeated with skepticism.  But the look of determination on Cas’ face made Dean realize that there was no arguing with him on this.  With three pairs of hands on his wings, they made short work of the grooming job.  It was far more rushed and mechanical than Dean would have liked, but it would do in a pinch.

“Next Cas wanted me to test to see if your senses were improving,” Sam continued once they were done with the wing grooming.  Sam took a piece of paper and a pen and walked over to the other side of the room.  Then Sam started drawing something on the paper.

Dean could tell the moment that Sam completed the angel warding symbol.  He could definitely sense an invisible barrier between him and Sam.  It felt very cold and hard, like a void of energy that just screamed “wrong” at all his senses.

“Good Dean,” Cas praised him.  “You’ll be able to help me sense where the wards are in the cave.”  Dean was glad to be more useful, and managed a weak smile back at Cas.  But he was finding it hard to concentrate when his instincts wanted to get away from the wrongness of the ward.  He breathed a sigh of relief when Sam tore the paper up.

“I’ve packed all of our gear,” Sam continued, gesturing to two backpacks and…

“I’m not wearing a fanny pack!” Dean objected.

“Think of it as a utility belt – with large pockets on both sides,” Sam replied.  “Besides, I MacGyvered part of it from a real utility belt.  Come on Dean – you need someplace to store your gear.  I already packed it up with extra flashlights, water, rope, snacks,….”

“Snacks?” Dean perked up and checked inside one of the pouches.  “Bird seed?  Really Sammy?”

“It’s trail mix, Dean!  Humans eat sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, nuts, and raisins too.  I added M&Ms to it just for you,” Sam retorted with an eye roll.  Dean sighed and strapped on the ‘utility belt’, feeling slightly better when he noticed it had a sheath for the demon knife, which made it look a little more badass.  Next he strapped on his head lamp, and that’s when he noticed his jacket laid out for him – with new wing holes in the back.

“Damn it Sam, I said I didn’t want to cut up any more of my clothes!” Dean complained.  He liked that jacket.

“Caves are cold Dean – you’ll need layers and a jacket,” Sam insisted.  The fact that Sam was annoyingly right didn’t stop Dean from mumbling under his breath as he finished getting ready.  

“Okay let’s do this,” Dean said once there was nothing else to put off flying with Cas any longer.  He braced himself.


	6. To Boldly Go

“Don’t try to fly yourself – keep your wings tucked in and let me guide you,” Cas warned him, as if Dean actually had any desire whatsoever to fly.  That’s when it really hit Dean that this kind of travel would no longer be instantaneous for him.  Crap.  Dean expected the usual two fingers to the forehead, but Cas surprised him by gently taking his hand instead.

There was nothing uncomfortable or unpleasant about the shift.  It was more like setting down a heavy backpack after a long hike, or a swim in a motel pool on a hot summer day.  Dean’s wings instantly lost all of their tension from his apprehension, and the rest of his muscles were definitely picking up signals to relax too.  

Everything looked a little bit different too.  Everything looked sort of transparent like it wasn’t really real anymore.  The motel room had all become a muted dark red, and felt slightly out of focus.  Even the floor beneath their feet didn’t feel like it was entirely there – Dean suspected that he could move right through it if he really wanted to (which he didn’t).  Sam – who was frozen in time and completely unaware that he was currently in a different dimension – didn’t quite look completely solid either, but had a bright yellow-orange color to the energy that was lazily swirling around him.  Both Dean and Cas had a much faster swirling energy around them, which was more of a yellow-green color.  Cas seemed to be patiently waiting while Dean took it all in before flying to their destination.  Dean looked at Cas and saw the same eyes staring into his very soul as always.

“This still isn’t the real you, is it,” Dean stated, not really meaning it as a question since Cas didn’t really seem all that different from usual.

“No, I am still in my vessel – I have just brought my vessel with us onto this plane of existence,” Cas replied patiently with a small smile.  “I’m glad that I can now show you this.  You are the first human to see the seraphic plane.”

“Is the place where angels normally keep their wings?  The place where, since I got my wings, part of me exists all the time?” Dean asked.  It was really weird to think about his body being both here and in the physical world at the same time.

“Yes Dean.  Your angel side has a constant connection to the seraphic plane, just as your vessel has a constant connection to the physical world.  With time I can teach you to travel freely between them,” Cas explained.  Dean twitched slightly at his body being called a vessel but let it slide.  He was far more distracted by how much his wings really wanted to start flapping.  Trying to hold them still and folded against his back seemed to be going against his angelic instincts.  Ever since he got here the desire to move had been building up.

“Alright – let’s get this over with,” Dean replied and braced himself for takeoff.  Memories of the two airplanes that had tried to crash with him on board played through his head.  He also had a steady stream of nightmare memories playing through his head – nightmares of trying to fly on angel wings and literally crashing and burning.  Dean tried to take a few deep breaths to calm himself, but he wasn’t even entirely sure that there was air in this dimension, so it wasn’t really having the usual effect of calming him down.  But whether going through the motions or really breathing, Dean felt like he was more likely hyperventilating than deep breathing.

“Dean – relax – I won’t let anything happen to you,” Cas promised.  Dean tried to focus on just Cas’ eyes, and that helped some.  

Dean almost didn’t even notice when their feet left the ground.  Take-off was so completely effortless and smooth that Dean didn’t even really feel it.  Sure, Dean could see and feel Cas’ wings flapping to propel them, but it felt more like the ground had just dropped away.  The human part of Dean started panicking like crazy.  But the angel part of Dean was completely relaxed and comfortable with this, and wanted badly to start flapping his own wings alongside Cas.  The paradox of it was actually kind of creepy.  On one hand he was facing one of his greatest phobias, and on the other it felt like he was coming home.  God, his life was crazy sometimes.  It made his head spin to have two parts of himself at complete opposite ends of the spectrum like that.

_This is terrifying!  This is exhilarating!  I need to get the HELL back on the ground right now!  I could stay up here with Cas forever._

Dean tried to close his eyes to it all, but discovered the hard way that he could still see even with his eyes closed.  He could still see the dark red insubstantial scenery they were moving past.  He could still see Sam’s time-frozen form being pulled along with them (which looked creepy as hell).  Dean instead tried to focus on Cas.  As they moved faster, the energy around Cas shifted color.  In flight, Cas looked bright blue (which kind of suited him).  Watching Cas fly was fascinating.  All of Cas’ movements were both graceful and powerful.  

Cas smiled when he saw Dean watching him.  Then he apparently decided to show off, because the next thing Dean knew they were flying in a corkscrew spin that no bird could ever hope to achieve.  As the world spun around them, Dean expected a bout of nausea that never came.  It took Dean a second to realize why – there was no pull of gravity in this dimension.  If Cas stopped flying, would they even fall?  Or would they just hover in place with no force to pull them back towards the Earth?

Cas righted their flight again, smirking when he saw the astonished look on Dean’s face.  Cheeky bastard.  Dean realized that he was losing focus on keeping his wings still, and the traitorous wings were starting to twitch with the desire to start flying.

“No Dean – keep your wings still.  You aren’t ready to fly yet,” Cas reminded Dean.

“I don’t want to fly,” Dean stubbornly insisted, refusing to acknowledge the part of him that actually did.

The flight with Cas was actually quite short, and Dean noticed that they were descending when he saw the scenery coming closer.  Panic momentarily welled up in Dean as he feared they would somehow crash, but of course they didn’t.  Cas gave his hand a reassuring squeeze as they sailed right through the surface of the Earth like it was nothing, flying down into the cave system underneath.

Dean wasn’t expecting the shift back to the physical world to suck.  It was the worst claustrophobia-inducing feeling that he’d ever experienced – like literally every inch of his body was being squeezed from all sides.  Dean wasn’t sure what was worse – the feeling of compression, or suddenly feeling like his body weighed 500 pounds.  Dean lost his balance, and fell face first onto the cave floor.  His wings automatically flailed about, flapping like crazy to try to keep him upright, but that only caused a painful pulling sensation in his wings.

“Dean!  Are you alright?” Sam frantically whispered, crouching down next to him.  Even though he was talking quietly in case there were any demons nearby, his voice still caused very faint echoes in the cave.

“I’m fine,” Dean insisted, struggling to his feet while still adjusting to his body feeling so much heavier again.  He pointedly tried to ignore the pain flaring in his wings as he looked around.  The chamber of the cave that they were in was just barely tall enough for Sam to stand up, but Sam’s luck wouldn’t hold long.  They’d be doing a lot of crouching & squeezing on this mission.

“I told you not to try to fly,” Cas reprimanded him.  “You’re lucky that you didn’t do worse damage to your wings.”  Dean felt the relief of Grace soothing and healing his wings.

“I wasn’t trying to fly, I was trying not to fall.  It was a reflex.  Try to warn a guy next time,” Dean grumbled.

“Is it safe to turn the headlamps on?” Sam asked.  Dean froze.  Wait – how had he just assessed the layout of the cave if there was no light?  Dean was fully aware of where the walls, ceiling, floor, stalactites, and stalagmites were – but he realized that he wasn’t actually seeing them with his eyes.  His brain was creating a mental map of the area for him.  This must be what Cas had been trying to teach him – his wings were picking up on all the tiny vibrations around him, and his brain had finally figured out how to decode it.  It probably helped that his new flight feathers were much better at channeling vibrations to his nerves than his down feathers were.

“There are no demons nearby, but wait until I finish healing Dean’s wings.  You have limited batteries,” Cas replied, oblivious to the new realization that Dean was experiencing.  As his wings slowly healed, Dean felt like the cave came more into focus.  Maybe that was part of why Cas insisted on wing-care before battle – he was partially blind with injured wings.

Dean wondered just how far he could sense.  He tried focusing on the farthest reaches of his mental map of the area and pushing just a little bit further.  It worked – he could see farther by trying to mentally extend his senses.  It even worked around corners in situations that would be physically impossible.  But it wasn’t perfect – the further he pushed his senses, the more blurry the picture got.  

He was vaguely aware that Sam was talking, but didn’t really snap back to the conversation until he felt Cas’ hand leave his wings, the healing completed.

“Quiet Sam – Dean is exploring the cave,” Cas interrupted whatever Sam was saying, with a clear note of pride in his voice.  Dean must have somehow given himself away.

“Exploring?” Sam gaped, and then there was a sudden blinding light coming from Sam’s headlamp.

“Ow!  Sam – turn that thing off!” Dean protested.

“You’re still here…,” Sam whispered sheepishly.

“Angel senses, Sam – angel senses,” Dean reminded him.  Dean tried to go back to scoping out the cave remotely, but the bright light was too distracting.  His concentration had been broken.  Now all he could see was the tiny portion of the cave illuminated by Sam’s headlamp.  Dean felt his wings droop.

“And now with the return of visual stimuli, you have reverted to your natural predisposition to rely on your eyes,” Cas said with a sigh of disappointment.  “But you were doing great, Dean.  We’ll keep practicing.”

“Sorry,” Sam mumbled.


	7. When the Night Wind Howls

They spent the next few hours slowly making their way through the cave.  It was very slow going because most of the passageways weren’t built for people Cas’ size, let alone sasquatches.  They occasionally had to use some of the tools they had brought to carefully widen the passageways so they could all fit through.  Sam was updating his map as they went along, and keeping track of where they were and where they had already explored.  Dean couldn’t get his angel senses to kick in again so long as the light was on, so he felt practically useless at navigation.  

The job of trying to sense the warding and/or demons largely fell to Cas.  Whenever Cas tried to reach out with his angel senses, he spread his wings wide and angled them towards the area he was trying to sense, as if it made it easier to catch the vibrations.  No wonder Cas had caught on when Dean had been trying to do the same earlier – the gesture was hard to miss.  Dean liked to watch Cas do his angel sensing – any excuse to check out Cas’ wings, really.  He half expected to see the cave’s constant howling wind rustling Cas’ feathers, but of course the wind passed right through Cas’ wings just like everything else on the physical plane.  Too bad.  Dean liked the thought of watching Cas’ feathers fluttering in the wind, and the expression on Cas’ face the sensation would cause.  Any chance there was wind on the seraphic plane?  He’d have to ask Cas later.

Cas repeatedly stretched out his angel senses as far as they could go – and came back with some frustrating results.

“I can sense multiple different warded areas in various parts of the cave.  I suspect that some of them are decoys,” Cas reported.  Dean swore.  Of course it couldn’t be that easy.  When did Winchesters ever have good luck and easy hunts?  

“Which one do you want to check out first?” Dean asked between mouthfuls of his last bag of trail mix.  He never had been good about pacing himself when it came to food.  He’d probably pay for it later when his stomach started to rumble far away from the nearest convenience store.

“Depending on which of these two tunnels we take first, we could check out one of these two next, then backtrack and go to the other one.  The rest of them are much further away,” Cas deduced as he gestured to locations on Sam’s map.

“Hey – do you smell sulfur?” Dean asked as he sniffed one of the two tunnels that Cas had been referring to.  Just because he didn’t have his angel senses working at the moment didn’t mean that he couldn’t make his other five senses useful.  

“There are hot springs in that direction.  This area has a lot of them, and they all smell like sulfur, just like the demons do,” Sam explained.  The wind coming from that tunnel did feel warmer than the wind from the other tunnel, so there probably were hot springs down there.

“Wouldn’t that be a good way to mask demon sulfur with natural sulfur?  Let’s try that way first,” Dean suggested.  He sighed as he crumbled up the his last empty food wrapper and shoved it into the bottom of his pack with the others.  Cas, always one for noticing every little thing that Dean did, immediately started digging in his own pack for something.

“Here Dean – I packed some extra bags of trail mix for you,” Cas told him.  Dean kissed him.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

The smell of sulfur grew stronger and stronger the closer they got to the hot springs.  There were lots of pools of water in this part of the cave.  Sam started shivering a little, saying that the water that kept dripping on him was making him colder in the already cold and windy cave.  Dean didn’t really notice the cold, so he insisted that Sam take his jacket.  Even with one less layer on Dean still didn’t feel the least bit cold.  Huh.  Something to add to the growing list of angel questions for when they got back.

Meanwhile, Dean kind of liked the water droplets because they, like the occasional gust of wind in the cave, caused movements and vibrations so Dean’s still-developing angel senses could pick them up more easily.  Even after hours of being down here, Dean still couldn’t sense the rocky part of the cave unless they all turned their headlamps off, or otherwise completely blocked the light from reaching his eyes.  But Dean tried anyway to keep his senses on alert – demons would make vibrations that he should be able to feel.

Dean didn’t sense the wards until they were practically right in front of him.  There was a single large sigil painted on the cave wall.  It looked like it was the same kind of invisible-to-humans paint that they’d seen back in Kansas.  Sam set down his backpack and got out one of the cans of spray paint he’d brought, and they directed him towards the sigil.

That’s when everything went wrong.

“Stop!  It’s…,” Cas tried to warn them, but it was too late.  A solid wall suddenly dropped from the ceiling behind them.  It was covered in angel sigils too.  They were trapped.  Then before they could regroup and get Sam to break the other sigils, a gas was sprayed right at them.  Dean choked and felt himself starting to lose consciousness.  Even worse – the last thing Dean saw was not only Sam being affected by the gas, but also Cas.  What the hell could knock out an angel?

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Dean dragged himself out of unconsciousness slowly.  He could sense Cas and Balthazar nearby, but beyond that he couldn’t sense anything because they were surrounded by angel warding.  With a start he realized that he couldn’t sense Sam, and that terrifying thought was enough of a jolt to restore full alertness.  Dean opened his eyes and scanned the room.  The cavern that they were in was dimly lit, but Dean could make out Sam on the other side of the cavern, shackled to a chair.  Sam had regained consciousness too, and was squirming in an attempt to get out of the chains.  Dean looked for demons, but they appeared to be alone for now.  Some thick-looking doors had even been built into the cavern, closing them off from the rest of the cave.  They were completely blocked off from even the wind that had been ever present since they first ventured underground.  There were a few wards painted on the walls, some that Dean recognized and some that he had never seen before.

“They found all of my lock picks,” Sam complained when he noticed that Dean was awake.  “Even the ones I sewed into my jacket sleeve cuffs!”  Well, shit.  These demons were smarter than average then.

Dean then noticed that Cas was still out cold.  That scared him.  There weren’t many things that could hurt an angel, and the fact that these demons had found a new weapon against angels was terrifying.  On the other hand, Balthazar was very awake, and looking rather bored.

“You boys are so lousy at rescues that it’s a wonder you’ve survived this long,” Balthazar drawled.

“A little gratitude wouldn’t kill you,” Dean snapped back.

“You got caught,” Balthazar rubbed in.  “And what’s worse, you’ve . . . become something on which they will love to experiment.”  Balthazar didn’t bother to hide his disgust, and Dean had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t just the demons that Balthazar was disgusted with.  Dean narrowed his eyes at Balthazar as he assessed him.  Balthazar’s feathers were a complete mess, like he hadn’t bothered to groom them for a long time.  He was missing a lot of feathers too, and Dean couldn’t help cringing at the sight.  

“Don’t insult me – of course I still groom my wings.  I just can’t fully heal them with that sigil by the door blocking all healing abilities,” Balthazar added.  Dean realized that his wings must have made a rude gesture at the ungrateful bastard, and smirked.  It sucked to have someone besides Cas reading all of the emotions that his wings were portraying, but he had to approve of whatever his wings were telling Balthazar because Balthazar was scowling pretty darkly now.

Poking fun at Balthazar was a tried and true way to keep Dean from freaking out over just how screwed they really were.  There was no backup coming to help them out of this one.  He suspected that demons had been plucking the feathers off of Balthazar, which Dean imagined would hurt like hell.  Were he and Cas next in line to get plucked?  They had to get out of here!

Just then Cas moaned and started to stir, so Dean was immediately right by his side.

“Cas?  Hey!  You okay?” Dean asked frantically.

“I’m fine,” Cas mumbled as he struggled to his feet.  He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Balthazar.

“It’s good to see you again, brother.  I’m so sor…,” Cas began.

“I haven’t forgotten how you backstabbed me, so don’t expect a warm reception from me,” Balthazar snapped.  Cas hung his head with a kicked-puppy look that made Dean want to strangle Balthazar.

“I was wrong.  It is one of my greatest…,” Cas began again.

“Save it, Cas.  Just because we are imprisoned together does not mean I have to talk to you,” Balthazar retorted cruelly.  Cas looked completely crestfallen.  If Cas didn’t care so much about Balthazar, Dean would have roasted his wings in holy oil by now.

“Ignore him.  Cas – how can we get out of here?” Dean tried to distract Cas.

“Get out?  Do you think I would still be here if angels could get out of this place?” Balthazar interrupted.

“Well we have Cas’ and my bags in here with us, so maybe we can toss my lock picks over to Sam…,” Dean suggested.

“That’d only bounce right off the angel warding,” Balthazar interrupted again with an eye roll.

“Just shut up if you aren’t going to say anything helpful!” Sam snapped, and Dean was proud of his brother for somehow actually getting Balthazar to finally shut the hell up.  “What if I came to you?”  Sam started using his overgrown legs to try to push his chair towards where Dean, Cas, and Balthazar were imprisoned.

That was, of course, when the demon decided to make an appearance.

“That won’t do,” the demon said, sending Sam back to where he started with a flick of his hand.  Dean could see demons’ real faces again for the first time in years, and he tried to push back the memories of the last time he’d been able to do that.  The demon chuckled and took a few steps towards Sam.

“Leave him alone!” Dean yelled, his voice echoing through the caves.  

“What, and miss the opportunity to play with one of my new toys?” the demon snarked.  “The Winchesters turned angels – now this is an opportunity for research beyond my wildest dreams!  I’ll start with the more advanced one, but don’t worry, you’ll get your turn soon princess.”  Dean blinked for a second before he got the implications of what the demon said.

“Idiot.  You actually think that boy is an angel?” Balthazar apparently couldn’t keep his mouth shut.  But the demon must be used to all of Balthazar’s yammering by now because he just rolled his eyes.

“I found traces of angel wing oil on his hands!  So for my first trick I’m going to force him to materialize those wings,” the demon replied.  He opened a bag full of very sharp familiar looking silver instruments that made Dean’s stomach plummet.  There was no way that he was just going to sit here and let his baby brother be tortured.  There had to be something he could do.  Dean started frantically tearing through Cas’ backpack looking for something he could use.  The demon was apparently not smart enough to consider a warded Winchester to be a threat, because the demon completely ignored him.  Instead, the demon just kept grinning like a kid in a candy store.

“ _Exorcizamus te, Omnis Immundus Spiritus, Omnis_ …,” Sam tried in vain, talking so fast he got impressively far before the demon used his powers to clamp Sam’s mouth shut.

“… _Satanica Potestas, Omnis Incursio Infernalis Adversarii_ …,”Dean automatically continued, only to have the demon laugh in his face.

“Poor little warded angel – don’t you know that exorcisms and angel spells can’t work through wards?  Well, I always did hear that Sam was the smart one.  No wonder he figured out how to hide his wings first,” the demon mocked him.  Dean felt his face heat up as he glared back at the demon.  Dean thought that there was probably some truth to that – if Sam had been the one with wings, Sam probably would have learned how to hide them by now.  But Sam was human, and only in danger now because he’d helped Dean groom his wings earlier and gotten Dean’s wing oil on his hands.  

“And yet, you didn’t ward Sam,” Cas commented.

“No, for that we have these magnificent chains of our own design.  Angels can’t break them, can’t use their powers in them, are weak to demon powers – and this is the best part – they can only make themselves more physical while wearing them.  So once I force Sam to manifest his wings, he won’t be able to hide them again,” the demon bragged.  

Both Cas and Balthazar were trying not to flinch (and failing) while listening to these words.  Even with his limited experiences at being part-angel, Dean knew that bringing too much of an angel’s form into the physical world was a bad thing.  Keeping the angels away from their home dimension was pretty bad too – Dean was trying to ignore the new part of him that also craved to go back to that seraphic dimension, but in the back of his mind he knew that it was there.

“These tools are magnificent too – they were forged in holy fire!  Just wait until you see the effects!” the demon added, and then began rummaging through his selection of tools, looking for whichever one he wanted to start with on Sam.  Dean hastened his own search for something he could use to fight back.

“We saw demon-on-demon violence at your last hideout,” Cas interrupted.  Good Cas – keep the demon talking and not slicing into Sam.

“Oh that.  The so-called King of Hell wanted our centuries of research on angels, but he didn’t have anything worth trading for it.  So we simply slaughtered his minions and moved shop,” the demon replied casually.

“You just ‘simply slaughtered’ Crowley’s minions like they were nothing?” Cas questioned.

“Yes of course – most things that can hurt an angel can hurt demons too after all, and we had an arsenal,” the demon retorted like this was all painfully obvious.  But the demon seemed to be getting bored of this conversation, and went back to selecting a torture instrument to use on Sam.

Dean found a small shovel in Cas’ backpack and realized that it was something that he could use.  There were some rocks littering the floor of their small prison, and hopefully most of them had never been touched by angels.  While the demon’s back was turned, Dean started using the shovel to scoop up rocks and chuck them at the warding.  A few of them bounced back off of the invisible wall between him and the warding, but others sailed through towards their target.  However the rocks were a bitch to aim, especially with the kind of force necessary to crack the warding.  There was a limited supply of rocks too, and Dean was worried about what else he could do if he ran out of rocks.  Surely the demon was hearing all of this, but the demon was choosing to ignore him because he’d finally figured out which blade he wanted to try out on Sam first.  

Dean chucked another rock as hard as he could, and felt the warding crack.  But it wasn’t a clean break – the crack through the paint line didn’t go all the way through.  The ward was weaker, but was it weak enough that Dean could make it through?

The look of fear on Sam’s face was enough to propel Dean into doing something very reckless.

“Dean – don’t!” Cas protested, but Dean wasn’t listening.  Protecting Sam was all he could think about.  He ran head first into the invisible wall.  Only, this time it didn’t feel like a completely solid wall.  It felt more like running into a wall made of jello – things still bounced off of it, but with enough effort maybe, just maybe, you could cut through it…

The feeling of compression surrounded Dean, but he was inching forward so he pushed on, fueled by the first whimper Sam made as the demon cut into him.  Agonizing pain started flaring up in every inch of Dean’s body, but he didn’t stop.  Every step forward got harder and harder to make the closer he got to the ward.  His muscles screamed at him from the strain.  Every step felt heavy, so heavy.  Still Dean pushed forward.  

There was only a short distance to go.  He could do this.  He’d survived 40 years in Hell.  Once he broke the ward the pain would stop.  Just a little bit further…

Dean fell onto his knees, his legs unable to support him anymore.  But he was almost there, so he crawled the last part.  With the last of his energy, Dean used a rock to smash the rest of the way through the ward.

The ward broke, and the jello-feeling was gone.

Dean collapsed the rest of the way to the floor, unable to move.  The pain hadn’t gone away when the ward broke.  Dean felt like he could barely breathe.  His heart felt strained as it pumped irregularly in his chest.  Maybe he should have listened to Sam about eating more heart-healthy foods…

Dean was vaguely aware of someone smiting the demon, and a frantic conversation happening around him.

“Sam!  Hurry and pick the locks!  You have to…”

“Keep quiet!  The demon wasn’t working alone!”

“Break that ward by the entrance so I can help Dean!”

His eyelids felt so heavy.  Everything felt so heavy.  The voices and movements around him felt more and more distant.  Dean vaguely realized that he was dying.  But at least Sam and Cas were safe….


	8. Tears as Soft as Feathers

Dean felt Cas’ hand on him, and a pulling sensation.  The pain didn’t go away, but suddenly his body didn’t feel so heavy anymore.  The world slowly started re-emerging from the darkness of near unconsciousness.

Dean felt something warm and wet trickling down his neck.  At first he wondered if it was blood, but it didn’t quite trickle right for blood (Dean had enough experience to know).  With a start, Dean realized that the wetness was Cas’ tears.  Cas was crying.  Dean cursed himself for making Cas cry.  He instinctively wanted to do something to comfort his angel, but he was barely conscious and every movement was painful.

They were back on the seraphic plane.  Cas had Dean engulfed in a tight bear hug, pinning his wings to his body.  Balthazar was flying besides them carrying Sam (in a much less intimate position).  Dean could feel Cas’ grace coursing through his body, trying to heal whatever damage Dean had done by forcing himself through the cracked ward.  The pain was still pretty bad, but it was getting better with each passing minute.  

“I’ll uh, take Sam back to his hotel room,” Balthazar was saying.  Dean then watched the weird sight of Balthazar and Sam shifting back to the physical world.  They both slowly became bright red swirls of energy that otherwise seemed frozen in time along with the dark red background.

“Why…?” Dean tried to ask, his voice coming out a lot deeper and more forced than usual, like he had something painful stuck in his throat.  He wanted to brush away Cas’ tears with his fingers, but his arm was still to weak and heavy to do more than a slight twitch.

“You idiot,” Cas said far too fondly for the words to have any venom.  “Don’t try to talk.  You nearly killed yourself.  You shouldn’t have even known how to do that.”

Cas really should know better by now – Dean was never going to stop to worry about his own safety if it meant saving Sam or Cas.  Dean vaguely recalled hearing the demon get smited, and hoped that either Cas or Balthazar got to Sam before Sam was hurt very badly.  Dean could still see some of Balthazar’s energy on this plane, slow swirls of orange that were distracting him from what otherwise would be a private moment with Cas.  Cas saw his repeated glances towards Sam and Balthazar and sighed.

“Sam is fine – his minor injury was easy enough to heal.  But I can’t take you back to the physical world until you are more healed.  Your physical body is not strong enough to sustain you yet, and it is easier to heal you here.  Don’t worry – not much time will pass for Sam while we stay here,” Cas explained.

“What’d I…,” Dean tried to ask, his voice still painful and wrong.

“Must you insist on trying to talk?  I’m healing your more vital organs first – I’ll get to your vocal cords in due time!” Cas replied with a sigh.  “You essentially tried to move all of your being onto the physical plane.  Since the wards are only effective against the parts of you on the seraphic plane, you weakened the effects of the wards on you.  A full-angel would have died before they would have been able to reach the ward, but you were human enough to barely make it.  However, you would have died without an angel to rebalance your being and heal your injuries.”

Sure, nearly dying sucked, but it’d all turned out alright in the end.  Sam, Cas, and Balthazar were all alive and free, and the demon was dead – Dean called that a win.  Cas must have seen Dean’s thoughts in his eyes, because Cas sighed and got a very sad look in his eyes that very clearly asked “why can’t you ever learn to value yourself?”  Dean didn’t have an answer to that.

Time passed slowly here.  It didn’t help that the only indicators of time was the progress Cas was making in healing Dean.  By the time that the pain level had dropped from excruciating to the level where Winchesters would take an aspirin (and civilians would go to a doctor), Dean could feel his wings start to try twitching again.  But Cas’ arms were keeping Dean’s wings very tightly pinned in place, so his wings struggled in vain.

“No Dean – you are in no condition to fly, even if you knew how,” Cas reminded him.

“I don’t want to fly,” Dean stubbornly insisted, ignoring the opposite message that his wings were trying to send to his brain.  Cas studied him closely, and Dean was sure that Cas saw right through him.  But part of what made Cas so awesome was that the angel didn’t push him.  Even though Cas was probably eager to teach him to fly, Cas wasn’t going to push him when he wasn’t ready.  Dean was sure he was _never_ going to be ready.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Cas shifted Dean back to the physical world so that Dean arrived laying down on his bed.  The shift sucked even more than last time.  Dean had a moment of panic when the shift triggered memories of fighting his way through the ward, but Dean had a lot of experience with flashbacks and shoved the memories back down quickly.  His remaining pain was worse in the physical world than it had been just a moment ago, and on Dean’s first breath he coughed up some blood.

“Dean!” Sam was beside him faster than he could blink.  Poor Sam looked worried sick, but he looked healthy and completely healed so Dean couldn’t help a small grin.

“I’m fine, Sammy,” Dean tried to reassure him.  He probably still looked like a mess, but he was in one piece and ‘out of danger’ according to Cas.  There would be more follow up healing sessions later.

"Balthazar – thank you.  I…,” Cas started to address Balthazar.  Despite how frosty Balthazar had been, he’d flown Sam back and stayed with him for… however long had passed in the physical world (Dean wasn’t quite sure, but he didn’t think it had been more than a few minutes).

“Yes, yes – I know that you and your… pet half-angel came through for me in the end.  But it’s going to take time for me to trust you again, Cassie,” Balthazar told him.

“I understand.  I know that it will be difficult for me to ever regain your trust.  Maybe even impossible.  But I am grateful that you have been resurrected.  How…?” Cas replied.

“You think that you’ve got the monopoly on mysterious resurrections?  I don’t know, but believe me, nobody is happier that I’m alive again than I am,” Balthazar retorted.  “And now that I’m both alive _and_ free, I’m going to go make up for lost time.”  
  
“What about the other demons?” Sam jumped in before Balthazar could disappear.  “You said there was an entire demon organization studying angels.”  
  
“Ah yes, well you lot won’t be ready to go after them until you’ve healed up and done a lot more research.  Seriously – if you go in all half-cocked like last time then you’ll be doing it alone.  Meanwhile, I see no harm in me taking some long overdue personal time to find some French girls off of whom I can lick off Nutella,” Balthazar replied, supplying some mental images that Dean would have been happier to have never seen.

“Seriously?” Sam complained, as much of a prude as ever.

“Well at least I don’t go around turning my playthings into part-angels,” Balthazar retorted.

“I didn’t turn Dean into a part-angel,” Cas corrected, which was true – Dean only had himself to blame for his transformation.

“Right,” Balthazar replied, not really sounding convinced.  “A Winchester who is part-angel – Father help us all.”  With that, Balthazar popped out.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Dean slept most of the next few days, which was just as well because it was a convenient way for Cas to spend time healing Dean.  Sam spent most of that time trying to do research at the local Hot Springs library, but didn’t come up with any usable leads.  After Dean started feeling a bit better, Cas ended up flying Dean back to the Bunker, while Sam drove the Impala.  Normally Dean would have protested, but he was still a lot more wiped out than he was trying to let on, and he knew that he wasn’t really in good shape to be driving yet.  He’d have to make it up to his Baby later.

 

☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆ SUPERNATURAL ☆ ★ ☆  ●  ☆ ★ ☆

 

Dean could really get used to waking up to Cas grooming his feathers.  Dean hummed and leaned his wings into the touch.

“You’re enjoying this?” Cas asked unnecessarily, as if it wasn’t obvious.  Dean let out a nice moan to make his enjoyment perfectly clear and fluffed up his feathers.

“Feels great,” Dean murmured, still half asleep.

“I’m pleased to see that you finally can sense my touches to your energy, and not just your physical form,” Cas replied.  Now that got Dean’s attention enough to wake him up a bit more.  He opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder.  Sure enough – Cas wasn’t touching the physical part of his wing, but the energy surrounding it.  But it felt just as real to Dean as when Cas was touching his physical wing.  

Finally!  After all that practice, Dean was finally able to consciously feel it when Cas touched his energy.  Dean wasn’t sure if it was just time and practice, or if it had to do with his new feathers, or if it had something to do with spending so much time just as energy while Cas healed him.  In any case, Cas was too eager and excited to let Dean process for very long.

“How about this?” Cas continued, and started peppering the thinner energy surrounding Dean’s neck with kisses.  Dean squirmed and moaned, going crazier than usual with the neck kisses that Cas was so fond of.  Were neck kisses an angel thing or just a Cas thing?  Because Dean could’ve sworn that neck kisses had never been this good before.  Dean tried to twist himself around so that he could get to Cas’ neck at the same time as Cas was giving him neck kisses, but Cas seemed a lot more interested in giving than receiving today.  Cas was practically devouring Dean’s neck with a ferocity that seemed very determined to make Dean become completely lost in the sensation.  Soon Dean could barely breathe, let alone return the kisses.

Cas must have sensed Dean’s strained panting between moans, because he pulled back and blushed adorably in a way that was completely opposite to the more dominant angel he’d been mere seconds before.

“Possessive much?” Dean joked once he could breathe a bit better again.  That just made Cas blush even more, which was way more adorable than anyone had any right to be.

“I uh, got carried away,” Cas replied, looking down.

“Yeah – I’ve got that effect,” Dean teased with a smirk.  He liked driving Cas wild, so who’s complaining?

“I nearly watched you die – again!” Cas replied with a quiver in his voice.

Dean responded by pulling Cas into a deep and very tender kiss.  Dean tried to lick all of his reassurances into Cas’ mouth.  With every caress of his tongue he tried to pour out his heart to Cas and bring Cas back to the here and now.  I’m here.  I’m alive.  I’m not going anywhere.  I need you too, Cas.  I need you.  And I’m all yours.  Dean put everything he had into that kiss.  Cas was a bit slower than usual to get with the program, but soon the reassuring licks started coming right back to Dean.  I’m here for you.  I will always be here for you.  I will never leave you.  I love you so much, Dean.

Dean’s hands naturally found their way to Cas’ wings.  Dean started with slow gentle strokes of Cas’ feathers, mirroring the sentiments he was licking into Cas’ mouth.  That got just the kind of responding moans that Dean had been hoping for.  Dean grinned into the kiss, only to find himself moaning too a second later when Cas started stroking his wings.  Dean automatically fluffed up his feathers and leaned into the touch.  It felt so good, so good.  Dean tried to savor every single touch.

Then Cas started doing something new with the energy surrounding Dean’s wings.  Dean felt the energy swirling and pulsing in a way that felt so amazing that he temporarily forgot to reciprocate.  Dean tried to mimic whatever finger movements that Cas was making to play with the energy like that, but he couldn’t figure it out.  However, Cas definitely seemed to enjoy whatever Dean was doing to his wings, if the moans were any indication, so Dean kept doing it.

Eventually they had to break the kiss so that Dean could catch his breath.  Cas’ eyes darted to Dean’s wings, his pupils were getting darker and more lust-filled at the sight.  Dean looked at his wings, and saw them completely spread out and angled in a way that was very open and…. oh!

“You want me,” Cas interpreted unnecessarily.  Dean chuckled.  His wings had no concept of subtlety, did they?

“If you’re ready Cas,” Dean replied.  They’d been taking it slow for a while, since Dean wanted this to be completely different from any other relationship he’d ever had.  He was playing for keeps, and wanted to do this right, savoring every step along the way.  But now felt right – they’d waited long enough.

Cas replied with a smile and a pleased hum.  Then Cas started taking his shirt off in a way that was surprisingly coy for an angel who’d never strip teased before.  Dean’s heart sped up faster at the sight of Cas’ bare chest, and in anticipation of what was coming next.  He lunged for his dresser’s top drawer for some condoms and the brand new bottle of Astroglide...

Just then the front door of the Bunker slammed loudly.

“Hey guys – I’m home!” Sam called out.

_Timing_.  Dean definitely had to teach Sam a thing or two about _timing_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I already have some ideas for a part 3+ for this series, but I don't have a timetable yet. If there are specific things that anyone would like to see explored more in this verse, mention it in the comments and I'll consider it if the plot bunnies like it.
> 
> Meanwhile I'm going to write a fantasy novel for publication during this year's NaNoWriMo. [Check out](https://www.patreon.com/Psynatural) more information on my upcoming novel (including a summary and some art), as well as a list of my other upcoming projects (including plenty of Supernatural fanfiction and fanart)!
> 
> ❤ ❤ COMMENTS are absolutely adored! ❤ ❤
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Psynatural) ~ [LJ](http://psynatural.livejournal.com/)


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